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Nervous  and  Mental  Disease  Monograph  Series  No.  28 


The  Autqnomic  Functions  and 
the  Personality 


By 

DR.  EDWARD  J.  KEMPF 
Waahingtoo 


New  York  and  Washington 


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Nervous  and  Mental  Disease  Monograph  Series2No.'28 


The  Autonomic  Functions  and 
the  Personality 


BY 

DR.  EDWARD  J.  ^EMPF 

WASHINGTON 

CXnaCAL  PSYCHIATRIST,   SAINT   EUZABBTB'S  HOSPITAI., 
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NEW  YORK  AND  WASHINGTON 

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THIS   WORK   IS   REVERENTLY  AND  AFFECTIONATELY   DEDICATED 
TO  THE  MEMORY  OF 

CAROLINE  TSCHUDI  KEMPR 

She  was  one  of  those  women  whose  faith  in  God  and  Nature, 
as  the  nature  of  God,  inspires  men  to  study  Nature. 


lU 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

Pagi 

Preface  vii 

Introduction  ix 

Introductory  discussion.  Statement  of  the  theory  of  the  physiolog- 
ical origin  and  nature  of  the  emotions  and  their  mechanism  of  obtain- 
ing gratification. 

Part  I 3 

Designation  of  the  autonomic  apparatus — the  origin  and  necessity  of 
the  projicient  apparatus — designation  of  the  projicient  apparatus — the 
organs  constituting  the  autonomic  apparatus — the  priority  of  the 
"autonomic  component"  of  the  organism — postural  changes  in  the 
projicient  apparatus  to  suit  the  autonomic  component. 

Part  II 17 

The  significance  of  the  continuous  activity  of  the  proprioceptive  cir- 
cuit for  postural  tonus  and  the  kinesthetic  contents  of  the  stream  of 
consciousness — the  dual  nature  of  the  striped  muscle  and  the  depend- 
ence of  its  postural  tonus  upon  the  proprioceptor  circuit  and  liie 
sympathetic  motor  neurone  in  the  spinal  cord — influence  of  autonomic- 
affective  tensions  upon  the  postural  tonus  of  skeletal  muscles — 
postural  muscle  tonus  (kinesthesis,  apperception,  reflex  imitation, 
and  "understanding") — the  postural  tonus  of  the  unstriped  muscle — 
peripheral  origin  of  the  emotions  in  the  autonomic  apparatus — auto- 
nomic-afFective  tensions — postural  traits  and  traits  of  character — pain 
and  pleasure  g^iving  stimuli  of  distance  receptors — similarity  of  physio- 
logical reactions  to  painful  distance  and  contact  receptors — metabolic 
reactions  to  fear  of  potential  failure  (increase  of  sugar  and  adrenin 
in  blood,  unfatigueability  of  muscle  cells,  decrease  of  coagulation 
time,  increase  of  blood  pressure  and  heart  rate,  changes  in  visceral 
volumes  with  shifting  of  blood  supply  for  defense  and  attack  and 
dilation  of  the  bronchioles — fear  and  debilitated  physiological  states 
— "conditioning"  of  the  autonomic-affective  apparatus. 

Part  III 68 

Continuity  and  complexity  of  the  autonomic-affective  stream — influ- 
ence of  the  affective  stream  upon  behavior— characteristic  affective 
states  and  their  influence  upon  behavior — (fear,  anger,  shame,  disgust, 
sorrow,  joy,  anguish,  love,  jealousy,  envy) — affective  repression  and 
fixation  in  the  persistent  postural  tensions  of  the  autonomic  seg- 
ment— influence  of  the  repressed  affect  upon  motor  incoordinations 


Vi  TABLE   OF   CONTENTS 

Pagi 

(accidents,  errors,  oversights,  mistakes  in  speedi,  writing,  dreams), 
the  integration  of  the  compensatory  autonomic  strivings  for  social 
esteem  into  a  unity  which  constitutes  the  ego — the  will  and  the 
wish — affective  fixation  and  progressive  divergence  of  character  and 
social  interests — affective  summation  and  reenforcement,  and  recip- 
rocal inhibition  of  affective  cravings — affective  conflict  and  dissocia- 
tion of  the  personality — the  essential  difference  between  extroversion 
and  introversion — affective  progression  and  regression — affective  re- 
adjustment, assimilation,  sublimation,  and  coordination — acquisitive 
and  avertive  capacities  of  the  personality — the  use  of  the  image  of 
reality — memory — the  nature  of  and  the  content  of  consciousness — 
the  wishfulfilling  mechanism  of  hallucinations,  delusions,  obsessions, 
misinterpretations,  misrepresentations,  and  practical  approximation 
of  interpretation  to  reality. 

Part  IV 139 

General  Recapitulation — Speculation  as  to  Man's  place  in  Nature. 


PREFACE 

It  has  always  seemed  to  me  that  the  inability  of  earnest,  intelli- 
gent students  of  medicine  and  psychology  to  grasp  Freud's  and 
Jung's  libido  concepts  indicates  that  there  must  be  something  not 
quite  satisfactory  with  the  idea  of  libido.  Although  it  attempts  to 
give  a  more  intimate  portrayal  of  the  energic  constitution  of  man  and 
his  love  of  life,  it  loses  clearness  because  the^mind  iFunable  to  clearly 
conceive  of  a  process  without  some  thing  to  proceed.  From  an- 
other source — an  old  aversion  for  the  clerical-academic,  vague  soul 
hypothesis  and  its  unintelligible  psychophysical  parallelism — I  have 
for  some  time  felt  that  the  only  psychological  conceptions  that  can 
be  expected  to  endure  must  be  founded  entirely  upon  the  functions 
of  the  reflex  circuit  and  the  autonomic  apparatus. 

The  recent  laboratory  demonstrations  of  the  peripheral  autono- 
mic origin  of  the  craving  for  food  (acquisitive-assimilative)  and  the 
craving  to  urinate  (avertive-emissive),  and  the  capacity  of  the  domi- 
nant autonomic  apparatus  to  become  conditioned  to  react  to  indif- 
ferent stimuli,  that  have  been  coincidentally  associated  with  its 
primary  stimuli,  have  permitted  the  completion  of  a  conception  of 
the  personality  on  the  basis  of  the  conditioned  autonomic  reflex. 
Hence  a  dynamic  mechanism,  that  can  be  visualized  by  the  student, 
may  be  substituted  for  the  libido  concept. 

I  am  particularly  indebted,  in  order,  to  the  works  of  Darwin, 
Sherrington,  James,  Freud,  Cannon,  von  Bechterew  and  Watson, 
and  and  the  teachings  and  personal  influence  of  my  teacher  in  psy- 
chology, Prof.  Ernest  Lindley ;  in  physiology,  Profs.  W.  Moenkhaus 
and  J.  Macleod ;  and  in  psychiatry,  Prof.  Adolf  Meyer  and  Dr.  W. 
A.  White.  From  the  thoughts  and  works  of  these  men,  scientific 
data,  suggestions  and  theories  finally  became  associated  together  for 
me  in  the  following  conception  of  the  dynamic  nature  of  the  per- 
sonality and  its  place  in  the  great  cosmic  system. 

I  wish  especially  to  express  my  thanks  to  Dr.  White  for  his  sug- 
gestions in  the  preparation  of  the  book,  and,  to  Dr.  Stanley  Cobb, 
Miss  Clara  Willard  and  Mrs.  Kempf  for  suggestions  in  correcting 
the  manuscript. 

Edward  J.  Kempf 

Saint  Ejlizabeth's  Hospital, 
November  7,  191 7. 


INTRODUCTION 

In  order  to  make  a  brief  presentation  of  an  autonomic  principle 
that  has  extensive  manifestations  in  all  forms  of  the  biocosmos  it 
must  be  presumed  that  the  reader  has  an  elementary  knowledge  of 
biology  and  psychology,  otherwise  some  of  the  discussion  will  seem 
barren  of  supporting  facts. 

This  book  has  been  written  to  show  how  the  autonomic  apparatus 
dominates  the  organism,  and  that  the  affections  have  their  origin  in 
the  peripheral  functions  of  this  apparatus.  Therefore  the  affec- 
tions should  be  recognized  as  the  dominating  dynamic  force  of  the 
personality  and  determine  the  nature  of  its  normal  and  abnormal 
traits  and  behavior.  A  theory  of  the  neutralisation  mechanism  of 
the  autonomic  or  affective  functions  is  proposed  in  the  text  and  the 
psychological  nature  of  its  variations  is  presented  so  that  the  reader 
may  use  the  theory  and  data  in  his  work  with  biological  and  psy- 
chological problems.  By  developing  a  thoroughly  dynamic  con- 
ception of  the  personality  the  biologist  and  physiologist,  the  psy- 
chologist and  psychiatrist,  the  clinician,  the  criminologist,  and  the 
social  worker  can  acquire  a  far  more  intelligent  insight  into  their 
problems.  At  present  there  is  an  unusually  strong  tendency  among 
behaviorists  and  biologists  to  urge  psychobiological  conceptions  that 
include  the  personality  as  a  whole,  following  the  suggestions  of 
Hughlings  Jackson,  on  the  three  integrative  levels — structural,  physio- 
logical and  psychological.  This  is  particularly  valuable  in  that  it  dis- 
courages the  adoption  of  the  old,  sinister  soul-body,  parallelistic  no- 
tions of  the  personality  which  have  so  long  diverted  enthusiasm  and 
obscured  the  vision  of  psychobiological  researchers. 

On  the  other  hand  the  movement  encourages  the  substitution  of  a 
practical  monistic  conception  of  the  personality  and  promises  marked 
practical  results.  The  adoption  of  merely  a  monistic  viewpoint,  is, 
however,  wholly  insufficient.  The  history  of  philosophy  shows  that, 
as  soon  as  a  generation  of  researchers  and  students  become  familiar 
with  monistic  or  parallelistic  forms  of  thinking,  the  natural,  irre- 
pressible question  arises,  "  Well,  how  does  the  mechanism  as  a  unity 
actually  work  ?  "  Then  follows  an  epidemic  of  speculative  explana- 
tions which  finally  wears  itself  out  and  the  preponderance  of  ag- 
gressive thought  swings  to  the  opposite  side. 

This  monograph  will  probably  arouse  the  charge  of  precocious 


X  INTRODUCTION 

theorizing  and  I  feel  that  the  suppressive  influence  of  this  attitude, 
so  widely  characteristic  of  the  multitude  of  American  university 
professors,  is  so  serious  in  its  sterilizing  influence  upon  original 
thinking  that  I  wish  to  quote  Charles  Darwin,  from  his  autobiogra- 
phy. Herein  he  reveals  the  attitude  that  enabled  him  to  break 
away  from  the  suppressive  educational  system  of  England  and  read- 
just, for  a  time  it  seems,  the  thinking  methods  of  modem  science.  He 
says :  "  From  my  early  youth  I  have  had  the  strongest  desire  to  un- 
derstand or  explain  whatever  I  observed,  that  is,  to  group  all  facts 
under  some  general  laws.  These  causes  (pure  love  of  natural 
science  and  the  desire  to  be  esteemed  by  his  fellow  naturalists)  com- 
bined have  given  me  the  patience  to  reflect  or  ponder  for  any  number 
of  years  over  any  unexplained  problem."  "  I  have  steadily  endeav- 
ored to  keep  my  mind  free  so  as  to  give  up  any  hypothesis,  however 
much  beloved  (and  I  cannot  resist  forming  one  on  every  subject), 
as  soon  as  facts  are  shown  to  be  opposed  to  it."  **  Science  consists 
in  grouping  facts  so  that  general  laws  or  conclusions  may  be  drawn 
from  them." 

My  theory  of  the  dynamic  nature  of  the  personality  is  submitted 
to  those  whom  it  may  interest  with  most  decidedly  the  attitude,  that 
no  matter  how  enthusiastically  I  may  ever  regard  it,  it  is  only  worth 
its  working  value.  No  theory  or  conception  of  life  is  worth  being 
upheld  as  a  creed  except  by  those  who  need  it  to  comfortably  main- 
tain affective  repressions.  A  theory  should  only  be  submitted  with 
the  purpose  that  it  shall  be,  if  necessary,  unreservedly  modified  so  as 
to  be  inclusive  of  all  facts.  This  was  the  method  of  Darwin  and 
why  should  it  not  be  the  method  of  Science  ? 

Until  students  of  animal  and  human  behavior  learn  to  present  be- 
havioristic  and  psychopathological  experiments  and  observations,  af- 
fective mechanisms  and  basic  principles,  so  that  they  are  clearly 
translatable  into  the  fundamental  mechanisms  of  the  integrative 
fimctions  of  the  nervous  system,  they  are  in  danger  of  working  with 
fine  psychobiological  blanket  phrases  that  merely  cover  up  parallelis- 
tic  forms  of  thinking.  Since  even  two  such  thinkers  seem  unable  to 
clearly  understand  one  another  it  is  highly  imperative  that  students 
of  human  and  animal  behavior  shall  learn  to  think  from  a  common, 
simple,  yet  comprehensive,  practical  attitude. 

In  order  to  develop  a  method  of  making  and  presenting  clinical 
and  behavioristic  observations  that  will  avoid  the  tangles  of  body- 
soul  or  mind-matter  parallelism,  a  new  reeducational  epoch  of 
neurologizing  and  psychologizing  is  developing. 

Evidence  of  this  is  already  to  be  seen  in  the  physiological  works 


INTRODUCTION  Zl 

of  Sherrington,  Cannon,  Crile,  and  others.  Holt's  adoption  of  the 
"wish"  in  his  book  on  "The  Freudian  Wish"  as  the  "first  key 
which  psychology  has  ever  had  which  fitted  and,  moreover,  the  only 
one  that  psychology  will  ever  need"  (29,  p.  vii),  indicates  the  nature 
of  the  physiological  trend  in  academic  psychology.  As  to  the  nature 
or  source  of  the  energy  of  the  wish  Holt  says :  "  One  will  best,  I 
think,  not  hypothecate  to  this  end  any  such  thing  as  *  psychic  energy,' 
but  look  rather,  for  the  energy  so  expended  in  the  nervous  system  " 
(29,  p.  4).  This  brings  the  student  abruptly  to  the  physiology  of 
the  emotions  and  the  nature  of  the  autonomic  functions  of  the  per- 
sonality. 

Watson,  in  his  physiological  work  on  "Behavior,"  in  order  to 
avoid  the  dilemma  that  always  arises  with  the  adoption  of  the  paral- 
lelistic  soul-body  hypothesis,  wholly  ignored  the  function  of  con- 
sciousness, which  rather  weakened  the  monistic  position,  the  phe- 
nomena attending  consciousness  being  the  last  stronghold  of  the 
parallelist. 

/Consciousness  of  self  is  too  omnipresent  a  fact  to  be  disregarded. 
There  is  a  distinct  functional  difference  between  the  integrative 
functions  of  the  unconscious  and  the  fully  conscious  individual  which 
lies  in  the  persistent  fact  that  in  the  latter  consciousness  of  self  exists, 
and  in  the  former  it  does  not.  ^  The  assumption  that  in  the  uncon- 
scious animal  some  coordinating  cerebral  area  or  center  is  out  of 
order  is  unsatisfactory,  if  it  is  held  that  in  this  center  or  centers 
consciousness  of  the  functions  of  the  rest  of  the  body  exists  when 
the  center  is  in  proper  working  order,  because  cerebral  pathology 
cannot  demonstrate  it  even  by  elimination  of  each  cerebral  area.  If 
it  is,  however,  assumed  that  the  afunctional  brain  area  prevents  the 
organism  from  reacting  as  an  integrative  unity  to  the  special  or  sen- 
sational activity  of  some  one  or  several  of  its  parts  and^he  result  of 
this  function  of  reacting  as  a  unity  is  consciousness,  that  is  aware- 
ness by  the  body  as  a  whole  of  the  hyper-activities  of  some  division 
of  itself,  then  the  behaviorist  and  psycho-pathologist  may  deal  with 
consciousness  as  a  physiological  phenomenon  without  being  embar- 
rassed by  the  mind-matter  riddle.  \ 

/The  phenomenon  of  consciousness,  as  a  result  of  the  synthetic 
activity  of  the  constituent  parts  of  the  organism,  is  as  much  of  an 
entity  or  fact  as  a  nerve  cell  is  a  synthetic  structure;  duration  of 
existence  not  being  a  fundamental  diflferencq^  There  has  been  a 
sleight-of-hand  movement  in  psychology  to  drop  the  term  "con- 
sciousness "  and  adopt  the  term  "  awareness  "  in  order  to  escape  the 
Sphinx.  If  the  above  physiological  conception  of  the  mechanism  of 
consciousness  of  self  is  true  then  the  psycho-physiologist  has  an  en- 


Xll  INTRODUCTION 

tirely  different  problem  to  work  out  than  that  which  the  old  cerebral- 
izing  notions  created  for  him. 

The  psychological  laboratory  method  of  studying  human  be- 
havior is  peculiarly  unsuited  for  the  study  of  the  spontaneous  be- 
havior of  an  adolescent  or  adult  subject  because  the  tendency  to  be 
conscious  of  himself  continually  interferes  with  the  spontaneity  and 
determination  of  his  reactions.  The  individual  who  has  learned  to 
analyze  the  spontaneous  adjustments  and  inspiraitons  that  occur  in 
his  daily  life  becomes  aware  of  processes  that  the  controUed-intro- 
spective  method  of  analysis  never  permits  him  to  recognize.  Be- 
cause of  this  the  importance  of  the  wish  was  not  recognized  until  a 
patient's  behavior  demonstrated  it  to  the  founder  of  modern  psycho- 
pathology — Sigmund  Freud. 

In  the  following  study  of  the  autonomic  functions  of  the  per- 
sonality physiological  and  psychological,  experimental  data,  psycho- 
pathological  data,  and  observations  of  spontaneous  behavior  have 
been  used  to  demonstrate  the  nature  of  the  autonomic  influence  upon 
the  structure  and  behavior  of  the  individual. 

The  theory  of  the  autonomic  functions  is  presented  before  the 
discussion  of  the  data,  upon  which  it  is  formulated,  in  order  that,  if 
the  reader  will  familiarize  himself  with  it  before  reading  the  dis- 
cussion, it  may  greatly  facihtate  considering  the  facts  in  the  light 
of  the  theory. 

The  discussion  of  the  autonomic  functions  and  their  funda- 
mental law  is  naturally  divided  into  its  three  manifestations — struc- 
tural, physiological  and  psychological. 

In  Part  I,  the  plan  of  the  structure  or  anatomy  of  the  higher 
organisms  is  discussed  to  show  that  since  the  process  of  atrophy  of 
disuse  tends  to  eliminate  the  useless  material  and  movements  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  growth  of  the  useful  tends  to  make  permanent 
necessary  material  and  movements  on  the  other,  the  architecture  of 
an  animal  should  reveal  in  a  general  but  reliable  manner  the  funda- 
mental law  or  process  that  determined  the  peculiar  form  of  its 
existence.  To  be  sure  there  are  anatomical  features  that  seem  in- 
explicable on  this  hypothesis,  probably  because  we  are  as  yet  not  able 
to  imagine  an  explanation,  having  insufficient  data. 

Part  II  is  devoted  to  a  consideration  of  such  physiological  data 
as  are  suited  to  demonstrate  the  dominant  nature  of  the  autonomic 
apparatus.  The  interpretation  of  (i)  the  continuity  of  postural 
tonus  of  the  striped  muscles  as  the  source  of  a  continuous  kinesthetic 
stream,  and  of  (2)  the  unstriped  muscles  as  the  source  of  a  con^ 
tinuous  affective  stream,  is  based  principally  on  the  physiological  re- 


INTRODUCTION  XUl 

searches  of  Sherrington  and  Langelaan  and  on  introspective  obser- 
vations of  spontaneous  reactions.  Researches  of  Cannon  and  Sher- 
rington on  the  nature  and  origin  of  hunger  and  fear,  and  the  labora- 
tory demonstration  of  the  peripheral  origin  of  the  desire  to  urinate 
are  advanced  to  demonstrate  the  peripheral  origin  of  the  affective 
cravings  in  the  autonomic  functions. 

It  is  but  proper  to  acknowledge  here  that  Cannon  and  Sherring- 
ton were  inclined,  from  their  researches,  to  beHeve  in  the  cerebral 
(central)  origin  of  the  emotions  in  the  sense  that  the  autonomic 
changes  resulted  from  cerebral-emotional  disturbances.  The  same 
research  material,  plus  other  data,  is  used  in  order  to  show  that 
emotions  are  not  experienced  upon  the  cerebral  changes  that  precede 
the  autonomic  changes,  but  that  an  emotion  only  comes  into  existence 
as  the  peripheral  autonomic  reactions  become  active. 

Liberal  use  is  made  of  Cannon's  work  on  the  bodily  effects  of 
pain  to  show  that  a  painful  stimulus,  whether  contact,  visual  or 
auditory,  so  disturbs  the  autonomic  apparatus  that  its  peculiar  state 
of  tension  or  unrest  compels  the  adjustment  of  suitable  receptors  so 
as  to  acquire  such  stimuli  as  have  the  capacity  to  produce  the  return 
of  a  comfortable  autonomic  state.  The  dynamic  value  of  increases 
in  the  quantity  of  adrenin  and  blood  sugar  for  this  purpose  is  also 
emphasized. 

Laboratory,  clinical  and  psychopathological  data  are  used  to  show 
that  variations  in  the  affective  stream  are  due  to  peripheral  variations 
in  the  autonomic  functions,  which  is  contrary  to  the  general  belief 
that  since  visceral  reactions  appear  to  be  similar  for  different  emo- 
tional states,  the  variation  in  function  probably  occurs  in  the  central 
nervous  system. 

The  law  that  autonomic  functions,  or  affective  cravings,  become 
conditioned  to  react  to  ordinarily  indifferent  stimuli,  because  the 
latter  have  been  coincidentally  associated  with  the  inherent  primary 
stimuli  of  a  particular  autonomic  function,  is  elaborated  as  the  mech- 
anism of  the  development  of  the  personality  and  its  individual  char- 
acteristics, whether  normal  or  abnormal. 

The  more  popular  conceptions  of  emotions  and  instincts  show 
that  there  is  an  illy  defined  tendency  among  psychologists  to  dif- 
ferentiate them  according  to  the  physiological  functions  involved. 
In  Part  III,  this  material  is  advanced  to  stabilize  the  primary  effort 
of  the  monograph,  namely,  to  obtain  recognition  for  the  fact  that  in 
the  higher  organisms  an  affective  sensori-motor  system  (autonomic) 
exists  which  created  and  uses  the  cerebrospinal  or  proficient  sensori- 
motor system  as  a  means  to  keep  in  contact  zvith  the  environment  in 
order  that  the  autonomic  apparatus  may  fulfill  its  biological  career. 


XIV  INTRODUCTION 

The  recent  tremendous  advances  in  psychopathology  are  forcing 
a  delayed  but  appreciable  recognition  from  the  academic  psycholo- 
gist. Hence,  the  mechanisms  of  afifective  conflict,  repression,  fixa- 
tion, dissociation,  regression,  readjustment,  coordination  and  reen- 
forcement,  reciprocal  inhibition  of  the  negative  or  antagonistic  wish, 
and  affective  compensation  with  sublimation  or  refinement,  are  dis- 
cussed in  Part  III,  with  the  object  of  showing  that  the  affective 
mechanisms  probably  originate  and  persist  in  the  heightened  postural 
tensions  of  particular  divisions  of  the  autonomic  apparatus.  The 
physiologist  and  psychologist  will  probably,  in  the  near  future,  co- 
operate in  working  out  the  relations  of  definite  affective  traits  to 
particular  autonomic  postures,  on  the  hypothesis  of  hypertension  and 
hypotension  of  various  autonomic  segments  determining  the  content 
of  consciousness. 

This  particular  physio-psychological  phenomenon  of  hyper-  or 
hypotension  of  different  divisions  of  the  autonomic  apparatus,  and 
the  mechanism  of  its  creation  and  continuation,  has  not  yet  re- 
ceived the  specific  attention  and  discussion  it  deserves.  It  seems  to 
be  the  most  important  psychobiological  phenomenon  in  the  determina- 
tion of  the  character  of  the  personality  that  confronts  psychopathol- 
ogy and  psychology  at  present. 

A  brief  discussion  of  functional  anesthesia,  which  was  suggested 
by  a  case  of  so-called  hysteria,  as  a  possible  explanation  of  the  physi- 
ology of  recall  of  sensory  impressions  (memory)  and  attention,  and 
a  discussion  of  the  manner  in  which  the  entire  integrating  mechanism 
produces  consciousness  of  itself  closes  the  third  part. 

Part  IV  is  devoted  to  a  brief  restatement  of  the  functional  prin- 
ciples of  the  personality  with  some  consideration  of  man's  place  in 
nature. 

The  references  are  listed  at  the  end  of  the  book  and  each  ref- 
erence is  numbered.  The  reader  will  find  the  number  of  the  ref- 
erence and  its  page  number  inserted  in  the  text  as  the  references 
are  used.     The  first  number  refers  to  the  reference. 


THE    THEORY    OF   THE    DYNAMIC— AUTONOMIC 
FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

In  the  higher  animals  and  man  an  autonomic  or  affect-producing 
sensori-motor  system  exists  which  uses  a  projicient  sensori-motor 
system  as  a  means  to  project  and  keep  itself  in  contact  with  the  en- 
vironment. The  affective  sensori-motor  system  has  specialized 
physiological  functions  and  a  definite  anatomical  structure,  consist- 
ing of  the  entire  autonomic  apparatus  and  the  sympathetic  or  un- 
striped  part  of  the  striped  muscle  cells.  The  latter  make  a  reenforce- 
ing  affective  contribution  to  the  personality  through  the  postural 
tonus  of  the  striped  muscles,  particularly  the  facial  muscles  and  ex- 
tensor and  flexor  muscles  of  the  skeleton.  (The  nervous  division 
of  this  cellular  system  has  often  been  referred  to  as  an  involuntary, 
or  vegetative,  or  sympathetic  nervous  system.) 

The  projicient  sensori-motor  apparatus  has  also  specialized  func- 
tions and  a  distinct  anatomical  structure  in  the  entire  cerebro-spinal 
apparatus  (so-called  voluntary)  which  does  not  include  those  auto- 
nomic centers  and  their  nerve  fibers  which  are  embedded  in  it. 
(The  projicient  sensori-motor  apparatus,  it  appears  from  the  nature 
of  postural  tonus  and  kinesthetic  imagery,  is,  in  a  sense,  the  think- 
ing apparatus  of  the  organism.) 

O'he  theory  advanced  is  that  whenever  the  autonomic  or  affective 
sensori-motor  apparatus  is  disturbed  or  forced  into  a  state  of  unrest, 
either  through  the  necessities  of  metabolism,  or  endogenous,  or 
exogenous  stimuli,  it  compels  the  projicient  sensori-motor  apparatus 
to  so  adjust  the  receptors  in  the  environment  as  to  acquire  stimuli 
having  the  capacity  to  produce  adequate  postural  readjustments 
in  the  autonomic  apparatus.  In  this  manner,  only,  the  disturb- 
ance of  function  may  be  neutralised.  The  constant  tendency  of  the 
autonomic  apparatus  is  to  so  organise  the  projicient  apparatus  into  a 
means  as  to  acquire  a  maximum  of  affective  gratification  zvith  a 
minimum  expenditure  of  energy  or  efforts  ^ 

This  continuous  dynamic  pressure  determines  the  tendency  towards 
perfection  through  practice,  eliminates  the  useless  and  stabilizes  the 
useful.  It  determines  the  evolution  of  organic  structure,  of  person- 
ality, behavior  and  achievement.  The  healthy  individual  is  a  dy- 
namic entity  that  has  an  elastic  although  limited  quotient  of  energy, 
hence  the  tendency  to  attain  a  maximum  influence  upon  the  environ- 

I 


2  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

merit  with  a  minimum  expenditure  of  his  resources  conserves  the 
unusued  resources  for  further  extension  of  power  and  influence.  In 
commerce  men  are  constantly  striving  to  find  methods  of  reducing 
the  waste  of  power  and  of  extending  the  influence  of  power.  Each 
invention  that  improves  a  method  in  either  direction  causes  the  old 
method  to  be  discarded.  This  principle  is  also  to  be  seen  in  the 
individual's  refinement  of  his  personality,  as  speech  and  movements, 
until  he  attains  a  comfortable  maximum  of  skill. 

In  discussing  the  above  conception  of  the  dynamic  nature  of  the 
personality  the  entire  organism  is  conceived  as  a  unity  and  the 
central  nervous  system  is  redurced  to  a  means,  or  instrument,  for,  first, 
the  integration  of  the  various  physiological  divisions  into  a  functional 
unity,  and,  second,  the  reenforcement  of  their  powers. 

Franz  (46,  p.  161)  has  concluded  from  his  experiments  on  the 
variations  in  distribution  of  motor  centers  that  "  the  same  forms  of 
behavior  are  not  always  due  to  the  activities  of  the  same  cerebral 
cells."  When  such  data  and  conclusions  are  associated  with  the  re- 
cent work  on  the  influence  of  the  proprioceptive  arc  and  postural 
tonus  the  old,  unfounded  notions  about  the  supremacy  of  the  cerebral 
cortex  and  localized  origin  in  the  cortex  of  the  controlling  forces  of 
behavior  must  be  considered  to  have  been  thoroughly  undermined  by 
the  more  recent  contributions  to  the  knowledge  of  the  nervous 
system. 


PART  I 

Structural  Indications  of  the  Principle  of  the  Autonomic 

Functions 

In  order  to  build  up  or  attain  a  dynamic  conception  of  the  per- 
sonality, the  body  must  be  seen  as  a  biological  machine  that  assimi- 
lates, conserves  and  expends  energy.  Since  nature  constantly  tends 
to  conserve  the  useful  through  trophic  processes  and  discard  the  use- 
less through  atrophic  processes  the  present  structure  of  the  human 
body  as  a  unity  of  anatomical  parts  should  reveal  the  dynamic  prin- 
ciple upon  which  it  has  been  developed. 

The  physiological  divisions  of  the  body  that  have  the  essential 
functions  of  assimilation,  conservation,  distribution  and  regulation 
of  the  expenditure  of  energies  and  the  elimination  of  waste  products, 
work  as  one  autonomic  apparatus.  Because  of  the  vital  importance 
of  the  autonomic  apparatus  in  the  higher  animals  and  the  nature  of 
its  evolution  attention  is  called  to  the  nature  of  the  primordial  auto- 
nomic apparatus  and  its  relations  to  its  environment. 

All  organisms  are  immersed  in  a  continuous  bath  of  environ- 
mental stimuli.  This  bath,  in  so  far  as  an  organism  is  concerned, 
is  composed  of  two  general  types  of  stimuli,  the  harmful  and  the 
beneficial  (because  of  destructive  or  constructive  mechanical  and 
chemical  effects),  for  which  all  organisms  have  some  avertive  and 
acquisitive  capacities.  Because  the  living  organism  itself  is  a  con- 
tinuous, complicated  stream  of  metabolism,  literally  flowing  through 
the  stages  of  infancy,  adolescence,  maturity  and  senility,  its  avertive 
and  acquisitive  needs  are  constantly  changing  and  this  fluctuates  the 
value  of  a  relatively  small  proportion  of  the  environment  back  and 
forth,  as  harmful  or  beneficial. 

The  avertive  and  acquisitive  needs  and  motor  tendencies,  as  will  be 
shown  later,  depend  upon  the  disposition  of  the  autonomic  apparatus. 
The  primordial  autonomic  apparatus  may  be  seen  in  the  unicellular 
organism  where  it  has  highly  developed  capacities  for  the  assimila- 
tion, conservation  and  expenditure  of  energy,  but  relatively  poorly 
developed  capacities  for  avoiding  harmful  or  acquiring  beneficial 
stimuli.  In  the  ameba  and  the  phagocyte,  as  free,  perfect  cells,  one 
finds  a  complete  autonomic  apparatus  but  only  a  temporary  pro- 
jicient  apparatus  in  the  pseudopodia. 

3 


4  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

As  some  forms  of  the  primordial  autonomic  apparatus  became 
more  powerful  they  probably  became  able  to  conserve  enough  energy 
to  sustain  a  permanent  projicient  apparatus.  When  the  ameba 
reaches  a  certain  stage  of  nourishment  it  undergoes  mitosis.  The 
manner  of  growth  of  the  embryo  of  higher  organic  forms  suggests 
that  during  the  gastrulation  period  all  the  cells  retain  independent 
metabolic  functions  until  the  layers  begin  to  thicken  and  some  of  the 
intermediary  cells  have  insufficient  access  to  the  food  supply.  Then 
food-distributing  cells  and  a  circulation  apparatus  begin  to  appear 
in  that  group  of  cells  (mesoderm)  which  has  the  least  access  to  a 
food  supply.  Not  until  after  considerable  progress  has  been  made 
in  the  physiological  division  of  labor,  and  the  specialization  of  func- 
tion and  structure  in  the  autonomic  apparatus,  do  some  of  the  cell 
groups  take  on  the  attributes  of  the  permanent  projicient  apparatus. 

As  the  autonomic  apparatus  becomes  more  powerful  and  its  divi- 
sions highly  specialized  it  is  also  able  to  sustain  a  more  intricate 
projicient  apparatus  which  in  turn  enables  the  autonomic  apparatus 
to  extend  its  capacities  for  the  assimilation  and  conservation  of  en- 
ergy. The  structural  plan  of  the  two  systems  in  the  higher  animals 
shows  how  the  two  systems  have  grown  apace  and  moulded  one  an- 
other, as  for  example  the  shape  of  the  lungs  and  the  thorax,  but  the 
initiative  always  comes  from  the  autonomic  apparatus.  Higier  em- 
phasizes the  fact  that  the  *  'myelin  sheaths  (47,  p.  79)  develop  first 
in  the  ganglion  system,  then  in  the  metameric  system,  then  in  the 
mid-brain  system,  and  finally  in  the  cerebral  and  cortico-associative 
systems." 

On  the  basis  of  this  dynamic  initiative  the  evolution  of  the 
needs  of  the  autonomic  apparatus  may  be  considered  as  the  deter- 
mining factor  of  the  structure  of  the  projicient  apparatus,  hence  the 
structure  of  the  body  and  the  nature  of  its  practical  adaptations  to 
the  environment.  But  the  successfulness  of  the  career  of  the  or- 
ganism depends  upon  the  capacity  of  its  receptors  to  react  to  stimuli 
in  order  that  the  autonomic  apparatus  may  differentiate  harmful 
from  beneficial  types.  These  qualities  in  stimuli  are  usually  not 
differentiated  by  the  exteroceptor  but  by  the  autonomic  apparatus 
through  the  reactions  the  stimuli  produce  there.  That  is,  the  eye 
does  not  differentiate  the  grewsome  from  the  pleasant  painting; 
this  is  determined,  as  will  be  shown  later,  by  the  peripheral  auto- 
nomic reactions,  or  feelings,  that  are  aroused  by  what  the  eye  sees. 

Since  the  only  contact  the  autonomic  apparatus  has  with  the  en- 
vironment is  through  the  extero-ceptors,  its  career  and  integrity  must 
depend  upon  its  capacity  to  keep  these  receptors  exposed  to  appro- 


STRUCTURAL  INDICATIONS  OF  THE  PRINCIPLE  5 

priate  stimuli.  So  long  as  the  moose  can  keep  its  nostrils  free  from  the 
odors  of  man  its  margin  of  safety  is  greatly  increased,  but  when  the 
food  supply  is  in  the  area  of  the  man  odors  a  compromise  of  the 
avertive  and  acquisitive  tendencies  must  be  made.  This  compromise 
of  avertive  and  acquisitive  tendencies  is  also  characteristic  of  plants 
and  insects.  If  a  white  mustard  seedling  is  suspended  on  a  cork 
float  in  a  water  culture  and  illuminated  equally  from  all  sides  the 
stem  grows  practically  straight  upward  and  the  root  straight  down- 
ward. Then  if  all  the  light  is  closed  ofiE  except  from  only  one  point 
the  stem  will  bend  toward  the  light  and  the  root  will  turn  away  from 
it.     (From  Macfarland.) 

Numerous  illustrations  are  not  needed  to  show  that  the  avertive 
and  acquisitive  tendencies  opposing  one  another,  as  the  organism 
makes  its  complex  reactions  to  the  environmental  stream,  determine 
the  organism's  position  and  course  in  the  environment  and  its  organic 
structure.  An  organism's  behavior  in  the  environment,  at  any  mo- 
ment, is  the  resultant  of  its  avertive  and  acquisitive  cravings  as  they 
control  the  final  common  motor  paths  of  adaptation  in  order  to  prop- 
erly expose  its  receptors.  The  importance  of  the  receptors  to  the 
older  cellular  forms  probably  necessitated  the  evolution  of  the  sense 
cells  into  sense  organs  and  then  the  integrating  nervous  system 
(Higier).  "All  nervous  functions  have  had  their  phylogenetic 
origin  in  the  activity  of  the  oldest  sense  cells  and  the  direct  descend- 
ants of  these  cells.  Among  these  must  be  included  the  little  known 
paraganglion  cells,  the  chromaffin  cells  and  above  all  the  cells  of  the 
sympathetic  and  autonomic  ganglion,  i.  e.,  the  ganglionic  system" 
(Higier,  47,  p.  79). 

Relatively  little  of  the  brain  is  necessary  to  the  vegetative  func- 
tions. It  is,  however,  essential  for  procuring  materials  that  are 
necessary  for  the  existence  of  the  vegetative  functions. 

In  the  case  of  the  mustard  seedling  it  is  important  to  recognize 
that  when  the  stem  grows  toward  the  light  it  also  grows  away  from 
the  darkened  areas  and  that  the  root  grows  toward  the  darkened 
area  and  away  from  the  light.  The  ambivalent  avertive-acquisitive 
nature  of  growth  and  structural  determinism  becomes  of  the  utmost 
importance  when  the  psychic  functions  of  organisms  are  studied. 

The  successful  struggle  for  existence  obviously  has  always  de- 
pended upon  the  organism's  capacity  to  develop  efficient  means  for 
meeting  its  emergencies,  and  upon  the  method  of  associating  the 
projicient  apparatus  with  the  receptors  has  depended  the  whole  bio- 
logical career  of  all  organisms  that  try  to  master  the  environment. 

We  may  therefore  conclude  that  in  the  higher  forms  a  system  of 
skeletal  levers  has  been  developed  which  are  manipulated  by  systems 


6  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

of  muscles  that  work  in  opposition  to  one  another  so  that  the  position 
of  the  lever  in  space  is  always  the  resultant  of  the  parallelograms  of 
opposing  muscular  forces.  By  this  elaborate  system  of  third-degree 
levers  the  organism  or  its  parts  can  be  shifted  about  in  the  environ- 
ment or  manipulate  the  environment  so  that  stimuli  which  are  ade- 
quate for  the  autonomic  needs  of  the  organism  can  be  acquired  and 
the  other  stimuli  can  be  avoided.  This  seems  to  have  always  been 
the  underlying  principle  of  organic  evolution. 

The  functions  of  this  elaborate  motor  system  are  coordinated  by 
the  cerebrospinal  nervous  system.  The  cerebrum  (Sherrington,  i, 
p.  347-349),  is  a  large  ganglion  that  has  been  developed  upon  the 
extero-ceptors  of  the  organism,  particularly  distance  receptors,  and 
the  cerebellum  is  the  head-ganglion  that  has  been  developed  upon 
the  proprioceptive  system. 

Since  the  receptors  are  so  highly  specialized  that  they  will  only 
react  to  specific  types  of  stimuli,  for  which  they  are  said  to  be  posi- 
tive, and  cannot  react  to  all  the  other  stimuli,  for  which  they  are 
negative,  and  since  they  are  fixed  in  their  anatomical  positions,  the 
organism  must  use  the  motor  system  to  shift  its  various  receptor 
groups  about  in  the  environment,  to  repeat,  in  order  that  it  may 
adequately  expose  them  or  withdraw  them  from  the  stimuli  for 
which  they  are  specialized  and  also  protect  them  from  harmful 
stimuli.  For  example,  since  saltiness  cannot  be  seen,  heard  or  felt, 
to  become  aware  of  such  qualities  in  an  object  the  taste  receptors 
must  be  exposed  to  it  or  the  organism  can  have  no  consciousness  of 
saltiness. 

Sherrington  expresses  the  dual  function  of  the  receptor  as  fol- 
lows :  "  The  main  function  of  the  receptor  is — to  lower  the  threshold 
of  excitability  of  the  arc  for  one  kind  of  stimulus,  and  to  heighten 
it  for  all  others"  (i,  p.  12). 

It  has  been  pointed  out  that  the  selective  function  of  receptors  is 
based  upon  their  specialized  capacity  to  react  to  "  different  forms  of 
vibratory  energy."  The  skin  contains  tactile  receptors  which  react 
to  contacts  ranging  from  i  to  1,552  vibrations  per  second.  The  in- 
ternal ear  reacts  to  vibrations  of  air  ranging  from  30  to  30,000  per 
second  (2,  p.  70).  The  retina  reacts  to  ethereal  waves  giving  sensa- 
tions of  brightness  and  colors,  according  to  the  ethereal  vibrations. 
The  skin  gives  reactions  to  radiant  heat  from  objects.  Taste  and 
smell  react  to  chemical  stimuli,  and,  of  the  two,  smell  reacts  to  par- 
ticles which  are  small  enough  to  float  in  the  atmosphere. 

The  distance  receptors  have  all  been  grouped  in  the  most  ele- 
vated, antecedent,  and  most  easily  protected  segment  of  the  body,  and 


STRUCTURAL  INDICATIONS  OF  THE  PRINCIPLE  7 

have  the  shortest  circuits  to  the  great  coordinating  centers  and  dis- 
tributing tracts  of  the  nervous  system.  Since  the  head  segment,  in 
order  to  acquire  food,  is  exposed  to  the  greatest  danger,  we  may  see 
in  the  development  of  the  architecture  the  fundamental  principle  of 
economy  upon  which  is  based  the  evolution  of  all  life — namely,  to 
acquire  a  maximum  of  result  for  the  affective  needs  with  a  minimum 
expenditure  or  loss  of  energy.  The  mouth  in  the  higher  vertebrates 
is  placed  at  the  tip  of  the  head  and  may  be  extended  farthest  into 
the  environment  and  is  usually  first  exposed  to  danger.  Just  above 
it  lies  the  olfactory  apparatus  to  discriminate  dangerous  odors  and 
undesirable  food  before  it  is  seized,  within  the  mouth  are  several 
varieties  of  taste  receptors,  to  further  discriminate  undesirable  foods 
and  to  augment  the  digestive  preparations  for  the  desirable  food. 
At  points  in  the  head  which  are  usually  more  highly  elevated  are 
located  the  eyes,  arranged  for  greatest  range  of  vision  with  a  mini- 
mum of  exposure  to  injury,  and  on  the  sides  of  the  head  the  auditory 
apparatus  is  fixed,  but  with  adjustible  ears  to  catch  the  sound  waves. 
Whatever  organ  or  group  of  organs  we  may  examine,  as  any  one 
tooth  or  the  teeth  as  a  group,  any  bone,  muscle,  muscle  group,  muscle 
cell,  any  gland  of  internal  secretion,  the  stomach  or  the  entire  diges- 
tive apparatus,  the  hand  or  the  nail  of  a  finger,  a  corpuscle,  or  the 
entire  organism  as  a  cellular  unity,  it  reveals  that  its  structure  fits 
the  purpose  or  function  of  tending  to  obtain  a  maximum  of  result 
with  a  minimum  expenditure  of  energy;  the  result  to  be  obtained 
always  refers  back  to  the  particular  needs  of  the  autonomic  ap- 
paratus for  which  the  proficient  instrument  is  used. 

This  principle  is  found  also  to  hold  true,  in  an  elastic  sense,  for 
the  development  of  immunity  for  many  infections  and  the  produc- 
tion of  antibodies. 

It  may  be  objected  by  those  who  would  hold  this  theory  to  a  strict 
interpretation  that  there  is  a  general  tendency  to  over-production  of 
reconstructive  or  defensive  material,  as  when  bones  are  broken  or 
infections  occur,  and  the  application  of  the  principle  of  maximum 
result  for  a  minimum  expenditure  of  energy  is  not  apparent  in  the 
excesses  of  the  defense. 

The  protective  or  compensatory  adjustment  must  also  include 
quickness  as  well  as  durability  and  thoroughness  of  the  defense. 
What  seems  to  be  an  excessive  expenditure  of  defensive  energy  is 
probably  just  sufficient  to  make  the  speediest  reconstruction  possible 
under  the  circumstances.  A  vast  excess  of  war  material  is  always 
created  with  the  ending  of  warfare,  but  this  was  not  too  excessive 
until  the  decline  of  the  enemy  began.  When  a  poor  defense  is  made 
a  protracted  seige  or  illness  occurs. 


8  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

The  survival  of  the  fittest  in  the  universal  struggle  for  life  often 
depends  upon  the  marked  change  of  function  required  of  some 
organic  structure  and  the  sacrifice  must  be  made,  perhaps  even  en- 
tailing the  loss  of  all  but  the  rudiments  of  the  structure,  if  it  is  an 
immodifiable  hindrance.  It  may  be  suggested  here  that  the  most 
persistent  and  intensively  disturbing  affective  or  autonomic  influence 
upon  the  structure  of  an  organism  is  fear.  Changes  in  structure 
seem  to  appear  first  in  the  projicient  apparatus  as  the  organism 
adapts  itself  to  new  conditions  in  the  environment  for  comfort  and 
safety. 

There  is  little  difference  of  opinion  as  to  what  organs  constitute 
the  autonomic  apparatus.  Unfortunate  differences  in  naming  the 
system  and  its  division  have  been  somewhat  confusing.  Higier, 
White  and  Jelliffe  use  the  term  vegetative.  Gaskell  uses  the  term 
sympathetic,  and  Langley  and  Cannon  use  the  term  autonomic  to 
include  the  same,  that  is,  the  entire  involuntary  apparatus.  The 
term  autonomic  seems  to  best  suit  the  dynamic  nature  of  the  ap- 
paratus and  its  aflfective  functions. 

Gaskell  (3)  places  in  his  sympathetic  system  the  following  group 
of  unstriped  muscles  in  vertebrate  animals  which  are  characterized 
by  their  innervation  and  by  response  to  certain  substances  formed 
naturally  in  the  body,  namely,  (i)  a  vascular  group,  (2)  a  group  of 
muscles  underlying  skin  or  epidermis,  (3)  a  group  of  muscles  un- 
derlying the  surface  of  the  gut  or  endoderm,  (4)  a  group  of  muscles 
around  the  segmental  duct,  (5)  a  group  of  muscles  forming  part  of 
the  gut  walls  which  especially  constitute  the  system  of  sphincter 
muscles,  (6)  a  group  of  muscles  connected  with  the  adjustment  of 
vision.  These  groups  of  unstriped  muscles  include  all  the  muscu- 
lature of  the  autonomic  apparatus. 

Herrick  (2,  p.  225-232)  says  of  the  sympathetic  nervous  system 
that  it  consists  of  two  imperfectly  separable  parts.  "  The  first  is  a  dif- 
fusely arranged  peripheral  plexus  of  nerve  cells  and  fibers  adapted 
for  the  local  control  of  the  organs  with  which  it  is  connected" — "the 
peripheral  autonomous  part."  "  The  second  part  of  the  sympathetic 
nervous  system  includes  those  neurones  which  put  the  peripheral 
autonomous  system  into  functional  connection  with  the  central  nerv- 
ous system,  thus  providing  a  central  regulatory  control  over  the 
autonomous  system.  This  part  of  the  sympathetic  nervous  system 
includes  the  peripheral  courses  of  the  neurones  involved  in  the  gen- 
eral cerebrospinal  visceral  reflex  systems." 

He  devides  the  so-called  cerebro-spinal  visceral  nervous  connec- 
tions into  (i)  mid-brain  sympathetic,  (2)  bulbar  sympathetic,  (3) 


STRUCTURAL  INDICATIONS  OF  THE  PRINCIPLE  9 

thoracic-lumbar  sympathetic  (I  thoracic  to  II  or  III  lumbar)  and 
(4)  sacral  sympathetic  (II  to  IV  sacral). 

1.  The  mid-brain  sympathetic  regulates  the  functions  of  the 
sphincter  of  the  iris  and  ciliary  muscle, 

2.  The  bulbar  sympathic — the  heart,  blood-vessels  of  mucous 
membranes  of  the  head,  saHvary  glands,  walls  of  digestive  tract 
from  mouth  to  descending  colon  including  outgrowths  of  this  region 
— as  trachea  and  lungs,  gastric  glands,  liver,  pancreas. 

3.  The  thoracic-lumbar  sympathetic,  dilator  of  iris,  orbital 
muscles,  arteries,  muscles  and  glands  of  the  skin,  blood  vessels  of 
lungs  and  abdominal  viscera  and  of  digestive  tract  between  mouth 
and  rectum,  arteries  of  skeletal  muscles,  muscles  of  spleen,  ureter, 
and  internal  generative  organs. 

4.  The  sacral  sympathetic — arteries  of  rectum,  anus,  and  exter- 
nal generative  organs,  muscles  of  external  generative  organs,  walls 
of  bladder  and  urethra,  walls  of  descending  colon  to  anus. 

Cannon's  autonomic  system  is  virtually  similar  to  Herrifck's  ex- 
cept that  he  includes  his  mid-brain  sympathetic  and  bulbar  sympa- 
thetic in  the  term  of  cranial  autonomic. 

Higier  includes  in  the  sympathetic  or  vegetative  nervous  system 
all  nerve  fibers  which  supply  the  secretory  parts  of  glands  as  well 
as  automatically  acting  organs  having  a  smooth  musculature. 

The  autonomic  apparatus,  in  this  study,  is  considered  to  include 
the  digestive  system  with  its  secretory  glands  and  the  liver  for  the 
intake,  assimilation,  and  storing  of  energies  (glycogen)  and  the 
elimination  of  waste  products ;  the  entire  circulatory  system  and  the 
kidneys  and  sweat  glands  for  the  circulation  of  working  supplies 
and  the  elimination  of  endogenous  waste  products;  the  respiratory 
system  for  the  intake  and  elimination  of  necessary  gases ;  the  sex 
organs  and  pituitary  glands  for  reproduction  and  growth  of  the 
body ;  the  glands  of  internal  secretion,  such  as  the  adrenals,  thyroid, 
parathyroids,  for  the  regulation  of  metabolism  in  emergencies  and 
otherwise ;  the  unstriped  parts  of  the  skeletal  muscle  cells  which 
maintain  the  postural  tonus  of  the  muscles  and  contribute  largely  to 
the  expenditure  of  energy  and  production  of  body  heat;  the  tear 
glands  and  muscles  of  the  iris.  The  functions  of  these  immensely 
complicated  systems  are  all  woven  into  one  apparatus  by  the  auto- 
nomic nervous  system  and  it  includes  all  the  vital  organs  except  that 
part  of  the  cerebrospinal  nervous  system  which  coordinates  the 
projicient  functions  of  the  organism. 

The  autonomic  nervous  system  may  be  said  to  be  composed  of 
(i)  a  double  series  of  ganglia  lying  along  the  spinal  column  and  near 


10 


AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 


Pituitary  gland 
Pineal  gland 
Lachrymal  gland 

Dilator  of  pupil 


Salivary  gland  and  artery 

Hair 

Surface  artery 

Sweat  gland 

Thyroid  and  parathyroids 

Thymus 


Heart 

Hair,  surface  artery 

Sweat  gland 

Diaphragm 

Liver 


Stomach 
Visceral  artery 

Pancreas 
Spleen 

Intestine 


Adrenal  gland 

Kidney 

Hair 
Surface  artery 

Sweat  gland 


Colon 
Bladder 


Rectum 

Artery  of  external  genitals 

Ovary,  Testis 


STRUCTURAL  INDICATIONS  OF  THE  PRINCIPLE  II 

the  viscera,  which  they  enervate,  and  ganglia  in  some  of  the  viscera, 
and  also  of  (2)  a  series  of  autonomic  centers  that  lie  within  the 
cerebrospinal  nervous  system  proper.  Through  this  latter  group 
of  centers  the  autonomic  and  cerebrospinal  systems  effect  a  regu- 
latory control  of  one  another.     (See  Figure  i.) 

Physiological  research  has  shown  that,  as  summed  up  by  Cannon 
(4,  p.  34),  ''when  the  mid-part  meets  either  end-part  in  any  viscus 
their  effects  are  antagonistic.  Thus  the  cranial  supply  to  the  eye 
contracts  the  pupil,  the  sympathetic  dilates  it;  the  cranial  slows  the 
heart,  the  sympathetic  accelerates  it;  the  sacral  contracts  the  lower 
part  of  the  large  intestine,  the  sympathetic  relaxes  it;  the  sacral 
relaxes  the  exit  from  the  bladder,  the  sympathetic  contracts  it." 
Higier  and  others  have  also  emphasized  the  importance  of  this  mech- 
anism. 

In  a  physiological  sense  the  course  of  activity  of  the  viscera  is 
to  be  seen  as  a  resultant  of  opposing  forces  in  which  must  be  recog- 
nized the  possibihty  of  unhealthful  conflict. 

This  mechanical  principle  is  found  consistently  throughout  the 
organism  when  two  afferent  neurones  converge  for  the  control  of  a 
final  efferent  path,  or  where  two  or  more  great  neurone  systems  con- 
verge for  the  control  of  a  general  efferent  path,  as  in  the  control  of 
the  heart  rate,  blood  pressure,  respiratory  rate,  muscle  tonus,  overt 
movements,  etc. 

As  Sherrington  (i,  p.  178)  has  expressed  it,  "At  any  single 
phase  of  the  creature's  reaction,  a  simultaneous  combination  of  re- 
flexes is  in  existence.  In  this  combination  ( i )  the  positive  element, 
namely,  the  final  common  paths  (motor  neurone  groups)  in  active 
discharge,  exhibits  a  harmonious  discharge  directed  by  the  dominant 
reflex  arc,  and  reinforced  by  a  number  of  arcs  in  alliance  with  it." 
"But  there  is  also  a  (2)  negative  element  in  the  simultaneous  combi- 
nation of  reflexes.  The  reflex  not  only  takes  possession  of  certain 
final  common  paths  and  discharges  nervous  impulses  down  them, 

Fig.  I.  (From  Cannon.)  "Diagram  of  the  more  important  distribu- 
tions of  the  autonomic  nervous  system.  The  brain  and  spinal  cord  are  repre- 
sented to  the  left.  The  nerves  to  the  skeletal  muscles  are  not  represented. 
The  preganglionic  fibers  of  the  autonomic  system  are  in  solid  lines,  the  post- 
ganglionic in  dash-lines.  The  nerves  of  the  cranial  and  sacral  divisions  are 
distinguished  from  those  of  the  thoracico-lumbar  or  '  sympathetic '  division 
by  broader  lines.  A  -f-  mark  indicates  an  augmenting  effect  on  the  activity  of 
the  organ ;  a  —  mark,  a  depressive  or  inhibitory  effect."  The  thyroid,  para- 
thyroid, th3Tnus,  the  kidney,  pituitary  and  pineal  glands,  and  the  organs 
of  reproduction,  and  the  diaphragm  have  been  added  by  the  author  to  com- 
plete the  conception  of  the  autonomic  apparatus  as  used  in  this  monograph. 


12  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

but  it  takes  possession  of  the  final  common  path  whose  muscles 
would  oppose  those  into  which  it  is  discharging  impulses,  and  checks 
(inhibits)  their  nervous  discharge  responsive  to  other  reflexes. 
This  negative  part  of  the  field  of  influence  of  the  reflex  is  more  dif- 
ficult to  see,  but  it  is  as  important  as  the  positive  to  which  it  is 
indeed  complemental."  (This  physiological  principle,  as  will  be 
shown,  is  also  to  be  seen  in  the  wish  to  go  from  "  here  "  to  "  there," 
to  choose  "  this  "  instead  of  "  that,"  and  to  compare  and  discriminate 
"why,"  "how"  or  "what"  a  thing  is  from  "why,"  "how,"  or 
"  what "  a  thing  is  not.) 

There  is  still  a  tendency  to  classify  organs  and  diseases  accord- 
ing to  location  or  physical  appearances  instead  of  functions,  as  in 
the  easier  scientific  methods  preceding  the  acceptance  of  Darwin's 
theory  of  evolution.  Considerable  resistance  still  exists  in  recog- 
nizing that  the  cerebro-spinal  autonomic  centers  should  be  grouped 
as  the  central  division  of  the  autonomic  apparatus  around  which 
has  been  constructed,  as  the  autonomic  apparatus  developed,  the 
cerebro-spinal  projicient  system  for  the  purpose  of  mastering  the 
environment.  Like  the  vagus  centers  in  the  medulla,  they  are  vir- 
tually autonomic  ganglia  imbedded  in  superimposed  projicient  nerv- 
ous tissue.  This  constructive  tendency  is  to  be  seen  at  present  in 
the  comparatively  rapid  growth  of  the  neopallium  in  man. 

In  the  biological  forms  previous  to  the  evolution  of  a  projicient 
sensori-motor  system  the  autonomic  apparatus  was  submerged  in  an 
environmental  medium  which  brought  to  it  the  supplies  necessary  for 
metabolism.  This  hazardous  dependence  of  living  tissue  upon  the 
fates  of  nature  has  been  gradually  reduced  as  a  compensatory  work- 
ing system  has  been  evolved  about  the  autonomic  apparatus.  This 
apparatus  virtually  submerged  itself  within  its  own  tissues  and  built 
up  a  complicated  medium  through  which  it  might  project  itself  to 
master  the  environment.  Man  has  made  another  step  forward  in 
this  same  direction  of  assuring  his  autonomic  comfort  by  construct- 
ing with  machinery  a  protective  environment  within  the  larger  en- 
vironment. Civilization  is  the  result  of  the  incessant  striving  of  the 
autonomic  apparatus  to  extend  and  refine  this  sphere  of  influence. 

In  the  behavior  of  all  the  vertebrates  we  see  constantly  the 
tendency  of  the  autonomic  system  to  develop,  or  to  sacrifice  if  neces- 
sary, the  projicient  sensori-motor  system  in  order  to  save  itself. 
One  might  say  that  practically  the  entire  striped  muscle  apparatus, 
which  excludes  the  cerebellum  (a  ganglion  built  up  on  the  unstriped 
muscle  cell  or  autonomic  component  of  the  striped  muscle  cell),  may 
be   extirpated   without   the   total   disintegration   of   the  organism. 


STRUCTURAL  INDICATIONS  OF  THE  PRINCIPLE  I3 

whereas  if  any  division  of  the  autonomic  apparatus  is  entirely  de- 
stroyed the  animal  dies. 

Long  after  the  autonomic  apparatus  had  constructed  a  means  by 
which  it  could  manipulate  itself  about  in  the  environment  the  tend- 
ency to  protect  its  reproductive  functions  (the  welfare  of  the  species 
follows  the  safety  of  the  individual)  became  manifest  and  instead  of 
ejaculating  the  spermatozoa  into  an  environmental  medium  which 
by  chance  might  enable  the  impregnation  of  the  ovum  a  semi-direct 
means  of  reaching  the  ovum  was  evolved.  As  "  life  "  climbed  up 
the  spiral  plane  of  organic,  really  autonomic,  evolution  any  tendency 
to  repression  has  been  met  with  dread  and  rage.  The  most  potent 
cause  of  revolution  in  the  society  of  man  is  aflfective  or  autonomic 
repression,  usually  due  to  the  usurpation  and  waste  of  economic 
necessities  and  sex.  But  sex  still  follows  the  necessities  of  life 
and  may  prostitute  itself  in  order  to  secure  them  (5), 

In  reviewing  the  architecture  of  the  human  machine  the  tendency 
of  the  autonomic  apparatus  to  sacrifice  the  cerebro-spinal  apparatus 
in  order  to  save  itself  was  emphasized.  This  principle  has  been 
neatly  demonstrated  by  Langf eld  in  a  series  of  studies  **  On  the  Psy- 
chophysiology  of  a  Prolonged  Fast"  (6).  The  tests  (i)  rote  mem- 
ory for  words,  (2)  tapping  test,  (3)  strength  test,  (4)  tactual  space 
threshhold,  (5)  touch  threshhold,  (6)  free  association  and  reproduc- 
tion reactions,  (7)  association  reactions,  genus  species,  (8)  associa- 
tion reactions,  noun-verb,  (9)  cancellation  test,  (10)  hand-writing, 
(11)  visual  acuity,  (12)  memory  for  words  after  55  minutes,  were 
made  daily  during  a  period  of  thirty-one  days  of  fasting,  during 
which  time  the  individual  consumed  only  750  c.c.  of  distilled  water 
daily.  "  The  tests  depending  most  on  the  muscular  reactions  i.  e., 
the  strength  test  showed  a  falling  oiT"  (6,  p.  48).  All  the  tests 
involving  the  higher  process  of  attention,  perception  and  associa- 
tion showed  improvement  which  may  be  seen  as  a  compensatory 
coordination  of  the  acquisitive  faculties  as  the  muscle  powers  weak- 
ened. Skill,  being  intimately  dependent  upon  postural  muscle 
tonus,  is  influenced  by  the  autonomic  cravings.  The  capacity  for 
improvement  of  the  autonomic  control  while  the  capacity  for  overt 
movements  diminished  indicates  that  the  organism  tended  to  con- 
sume the  resources  of  energy  in  the  projicient  motor  system  first. 
The  capacities  of  coordination  of  movement  are  retained  longest, 
being  more  likely  necessary  for  success  than  mere  muscle  strength 
when  the  food  supply  is  difficult  to  attain.  Species  that  have  very 
accessible  and  abundant  vegetable  food  supplies  develop  enormous 
bodies  with  a  relatively  meager  integrating  nervous  mechanism. 


14  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

Apparently  skillful  or  elaborate  motor  coordinations  are  not  essen- 
tial to  the  welfare  of  most  herbivorous  animals  such  as  the  rhinoc- 
eros. Carnivorous  types  have  developed,  relative  to  their  body 
weight,  far  larger  and  more  intricate  projicient  nervous  systems 
because  the  nature  of  the  food  supply  required  a  higher  degree  of 
skillfulness. 

,    Gaskell   (45,  C.   i)   in  his  brilliant  discussion  of  the  origin  of 
vertebrates  from  invertebrate  forms  of  the  sea-scorpion  or  spider 
type,  has  advanced  the  theory  that  since  the  esophagus  pierced  the 
anterior  portion  of  the  nervous  system,  as  the  nervous  system  grew 
the  esophagus  became  constricted  until  only  liquid  food   (blood) 
could  pass,  and  as  the  nervous  system  continued  to  grow  and  con- 
strict the  esophagus  more  and  more  the  formation  of  a  new  ali- 
mentary canal  became  urgent  for  survival.     He  summarizes  the  dy- 
namic principle  in  this  romantic  biological  revolution  as  follows; 
"  Further  upward  evolution  demanded  a  larger  and  larger  brain 
with  ensuing  consequence  of  a  greater  and  greater  difficulty  of  food- 
supply.     Nature's  mistake  was  rectified  and  further  evolution  se- 
cured, not  by  degeneration   in  the  brain  region,   for  that  means 
degradation  not  upward  progress,  but  by  the  formation  of  a  new 
food  channel,  in  consequence  of  which  the  brain  was  free  to  develop 
to  its  fullest  extent "  (45,  p.  66).    This  explanation  of  the  revolution- 
ary process  that  occurred  admits  that  another  solution  of  the  di- 
lemma would  have  required  only  sufficient  degeneration  of  the  nerv- 
ous system  to  enable  the  esophagus  to  pass  the  food  to  the  stomach, 
but  he  says  this  would  have  meant  degradation  and  not  upward  prog- 
ress.    The  autonomic  apparatus  in  itself  cares  nothing  about  the 
morals  of  upward  or  downward  evolution,  and  one  cannot  help  but 
wonder  why  a  scientist  with  such  acumen  should  care  to  inject  a  dy- 
namic supposition  having  only  a  moral  value.    Its  one  law  is  to  fulfill 
its  biological  career,  that  is  gratify  its  cravings,  and  upward  evolu- 
tion, in  the  sense  of  greater  skillfulness  in  its  projicient  functions,  is 
the  result  of  the  requirements  of  the  environment.    When  no  skill  is 
necessary  the  integrative  functions  tend  to  atrophy  through  disuse. 
Hence  the  moral  attributes  of  upward  evolution  must  be  recognized 
as  results  of  the  nature  of  the  autonomic  struggle  and  not  as  causes. 
No  further  dynamic  principle  need  be  assumed  than  that  of  distress 
in  the  peripheral  sense  organs  of  the  autonomic  apparatus  to  explain 
why  the  nervous  system  was  increased  and  finally  almost  occluded 
the  esophagus,  even  though  it  meant  death  for  the  organism  because 
of  the  vicious  circle  that  was  established.     It  was  not  for  the  sake  of 
upward  evolution  and  the  development  of  a  larger  brain  that "  Nature 


STRUCTURAL  INDICATIONS  OF  THE  PRINCIPLE  1 5 

made  a  mistake  "  but  the  increase  of  the  brain  was  due  to  the  neces- 
sary, desperate  efforts  of  the  autonomic  apparatus  to  develop  a  more 
efficiently  integrated  projicient  nervous  system  in  order  to  catch  its 
prey.  Such  biological  dilemmas  have  probably  exterminated  many 
species.  The  invertebrate  types  in  which  this  biological  revolution 
occurred  were  blood  suckers.  It  is  probable  that  at  one  time  the 
food  supply  was  so  enormous  that  the  carnivorous  sea  scorpion 
learned  to  relish  only  the  blood  of  its  victims  and  its  digestive  secre- 
tions specialized  considerably  for  that  type  of  food.  As  the  quantity 
of  victims  gradually  decreased  more  skillful  efforts  were  necessary, 
hence  more  intricate  integrations  and  more  numerous  association 
fibers  in  the  projicient  nervous  system  were  developed  and  with  ex- 
tra effort  sufficient  blood  could  be  had.  Then  probably  a  still  greater 
decrease  in  the  food  supply  occurred,  and  as  the  brain  had  become 
too  large  to  permit  the  esophagus  to  pass  solids  desperate  efforts  had 
to  be  made  to  catch  sufficient  prey  for  the  blood  supply.  This  neces- 
sitated a  progressive  increase  of  the  nervous  system  as  the  only  im- 
mediate solution  of  the  danger  of  starvation.  In  the  end,  however, 
this  was  doomed  to  defeat  its  own  purpose  because  of  the  mechan- 
ical principle  involved  and  it  can  hardly  be  regarded  as  "a  mistake 
of  Nature." 

Eventually  the  increasing  projicient  nervous  system  constricting 
the  esophagus  made  the  formation  of  a  new  alimentary  system  im- 
perative because  a  decrease  in  the  nervous  system  made  the  animal 
too  inefficient  to  capture  enough  prey  and  the  necessary  continued 
increase  in  the  nervous  system  threatened  to  constrict  the  esophagus 
entirely.  It  has  been  shown  that  when  rats  are  inbred,  reducing  the 
brain  weight,  they  learn  less  rapidly  to  make  associations  than  their 
brainier  ancestors  (Bassett,  49).  That  the  dynamic  pressure  for  an 
increase  in  the  size  of  the  brain  should  have  its  source  in  the  periph- 
eral structures  of  the  autonomic  apparatus  has  been  discussed  at 
some  length  in  order  to  emphasize  the  principle  that  the  dynamic 
urge  of  evolution  must  have  a  strictly  metabolic  origin  and  has  no 
structural  preference.  The  structures  evolved  are  sustained  only 
because  they  are  the  best  means  under  the  circumstances  for  the  re- 
tention of  a  comfortable  autonomic  state. 

The  body  is  a  vast  community  of  cells,  each  one  living  an  indi- 
vidual existence  but  dependent  upon  and  reciprocating  with  all  the 
others  in  a  complex  imity.  The  specialized  cell  types  have  collected 
into  colonies  or  organs  and  systems,  and  the  reciprocating  systems 
into  a  functional  and  structural  unity,  but  the  underlying  plan  of 
evolution  of  the  cellular  unity  has  always  been  directed  by  the  auto- 

3 


l6  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

nomic  needs  of  the  organism,  as  they  were  imposed  upon  the  auto- 
nomic apparatus  by  the  environment  and  by  metaboHsm, 

Very  early  in  the  embryonic  development  of  the  human  or- 
ganism, before  striped  muscle  cells  and  cartilage  or  bone-forming 
tissue  appear,  a  circulatory  system  is  started  ( for  distribution  of 
food — the  first  circulation  developed  being  associated  with  the  yolk- 
sac),  and  soon  after  the  heart  an  autonomic  (vagus)  nerve  cell  or 
center  appears.  As  the  spinal  cord  evolves,  the  peripheral  autonomic 
ganglion  colonies  emigrate  from  the  spinal  cord  segments.  The 
autonomic  centers  within  the  cord  and,  particularly  in  the  medulla, 
are  far  enough  developed  to  support  the  inference  that,  like  the  de- 
velopment of  the  cerebrum  on  the  distance  receptors,  the  cerebro- 
spinal system  is  developed  upon  a  nucleus  of  the  central  autonomic 
sensori-motor  system.  It  would  be  expected  that  the  final  construc- 
tion of  the  two  systems  would  proceed  together  and  regulate  one 
another.  The  point  to  be  emphasized  is  the  priority  of  the  autonomic 
apparatus  over  the  projicient  apparatus.  The  unstriped  muscle  cell 
appears  before  the  striped  muscle  cell. 

This  brings  us  to  the  problem  of  the  peripheral  origin  of 
autonomic  distress,  the  peripheral  origin  of  the  affections  or  emo- 
tions, their  persistence  in  the  postural  tensions  of  the  viscera  and 
their  relation  to  the  receptors  manipulated  by  the  projicient  appara- 
tus.    Part  II  is  devoted  to  a  discussion  of  these  mechanisms. 


PART  II 

Functional  Considerations  of  the  Theory 

The  Significance  of  the  Continuous  Activity  of  the  Proprioceptive 

Circuit 

The  continuous  activity  of  the  afferent  proprioceptive  arc  of  the 
skeletal  and  visceral  musculature  has  been  demonstrated  by  Sher- 
rington (7,  p.  196-7).  He  found  that  when  all  the  nerves  of  the 
muscles  of  both  hind  limbs  in  a  decerebrate  cat  are  severed,  includ- 
ing all  the  nerves  from  the  skin,  except  the  nerve  of  the  muscle 
whose  tonus  is  to  be  studied  (extensor  muscle  of  the  knee),  that 
muscle  retains  its  full  tonus.  This  nerve  of  the  tonic  muscle  con- 
tains both  efferent  and  afferent  fibers,  the  latter  being  traceable  from 
receptors  in  the  tendon  of  the  muscle  and,  mainly,  from  the  muscle 
itself  to  their  entrance  into  the  cord  via  the  dorsal  (posterior)  roots 
of  the  fifth  and  sixth  spinal  nerves  of  the  lumbar  segment  in  the 
cat.  "If  these  two  afferent  dorsal  roots  are  severed  the  tonus  at 
once  vanishes  from  the  muscle,  although  the  corresponding  ventral 
roots  containing  the  motor  fibers  for  the  muscle  remain  intact,  and 
although  all  the  other  nerves  of  the  limbs  remain  intact  as  well." 
Experiments  with  other  muscles  exhibiting  tonus  demonstrated  the 
same  phenomenon  and  the  maintenance  of  tonus  seems  to  be  true 
for  all  the  skeletal  muscles  that  oppose  gravity,  thereby  maintaining 
the  posture  of  the  animal.  This  probably  includes  all  the  skeletal 
muscules,  except  the  abdominal,  which  "prevent  sinking  to  the 
ground." 

He  also  found,  although  the  length  of  the  muscle  was  shortened 
or  lengthened  by  changing  the  posture  of  a  limb  (extension  or 
flexion),  that  the  tonus  remained  constant.  It  does  not  interfere 
with  the  reflex  movements  which  might  be  superimposed  upon  the 
tonus  as  demonstrated  by  Langelaan  (8). 

Sherrington  (7,  p.  202)  considers  that  the  tonus  of  skeletal 
muscle  in  the  mammal  is  nothing  more  than  postural  contraction; 
both  are  reflex  functions.  Tonus  is  a  contraction  of  muscles  en- 
gaged in  the  execution  of  a  definite  coordinate  reflex,  a  reflex  differ- 
ing from  reflexes  ordinarily  examined  only  in  that  its  functions  are 
posture  and  not  movement,  the  reciprocal  innervation  of  antagonists 

17 


l8  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

for  posture  having  also  been  demonstrated ;  as  "  in  reflex  standing 
the  opponents  of  the  posturally  contracting  anti-gravity  muscles,  the 
flexors  as  they  may  in  brief  be  termed,  exhibit  no  postural  contrac- 
tion, and  the  stronger  the  reflex  posture  the  less  trace  of  contrac- 
tion may  these  latter  be  expected  to  show." 

The  proprioceptive  system  as  shown  by  Sherrington  is  necessary 
for  the  maintenance  of  postural  tonus,  and  also  it  is  indicated  by 
the  mechanism  of  maintaining  tonus  that  the  sensations  (kines- 
thetic) acquired  through  the  activity  of  the  proprioceptive  system, 
in  turn,  depend  upon  the  contractural  states  of  the  muscles  and 
tendons  in  which  the  receptors  are  imbedded,  the  positions  of  the 
joints,  and,  perhaps,  skin  pressures.  Therefore  the  proprioceptive 
arc,  functionally  a  circuit,  must  be  considered  in  its  entirety,  includ- 
ing the  muscle  or  gland  cell,  in  relation  to  kinesthesis. 

Postural  contraction,  like  other  contraction,  is  only  present  in 
response  to  nervous  impulses  reaching  the  muscle  from  the  motor 
neurone,  but  the  tonic  function  of  the  efferent  motor  neurone  de- 
pends largely  upon  the  intact  afferent  arc.  The  action  currents, 
Sherrington  observed,  vary  from  40  to  90  per  second  for  various 
muscles,  and  imder  different  conditions  (7,  p.  230).  These  action 
currents,  producing  an  almost  ceaseless,  very  rapid  stream  of  proprio- 
ceptive impulses,  may  explain  the  continuity  of  the  kinesthetic 
content  of  the  stream  of  consciousness.  Its  continuity  is  accepted 
in  that  the  rapidity  of  the  proprioceptive  impulses  flowing  from 
manifold  sources  can  not  be  differentiated  into  their  elements 
except  when  particular  divisions  of  the  proprioceptive  system  have 
attained  especial  activity,  becoming  more  prominent  and  vivid  than 
the  mass  of  other  proprioceptive  circuits.  For  example,  when 
threading  a  needle  while  seated  one  would  not  likely  be  aware  of 
the  functions  of  the  leg  unless  the  leg  divisions  suddenly  had  undue 
stresses  imposed  upon  them.  Then  the  delicate  neuromuscular  coor- 
dinations of  threading  the  needle  would  tend  to  be  dissociated  and 
cause  a  general  momentary  discomfort  because  the  slight  incoordi- 
nations of  the  hands  resist  the  affective  functions  or  the  wish. 

The  continuous  activity  of  innumerable  proprioceptive  circuits 
also  explains  the  apparently  unlimited  depth  of  the  stream  of  ac- 
tivity of  a  personality  for  any  moment,  shading  from  the  predomi- 
nant proprioceptive  functions  of  the  moment,  of  which  the  indi- 
vidual is  clearly  aware,  to  functions  of  which  he  is  more  or  less  dimly 
aware,  into  the  mass  of  neuromuscular  functions  for  which  he  may 
not  have  or  can  never  have  consciousness.  This  seems  to  be  the 
physiological  nature  of  the  apperceptive  functions  of  the  personality. 


FUNCTIONAL  CONSmERATIONS  OF  THE  THEORY  19 

That  other  receptors  than  those  of  the  contracting  muscles  them- 
selves can  influence  the  reflex  postural  action  maintained  by  the 
proprioceptive  arc  of  the  muscle  has  been  "evidenced  in  many  ob- 
servations." Ewald,  quoted  by  Sherrington  (7,  p.  206),  split  the 
lower  bill  of  a  pigeon's  beak  into  its  two  lateral  halves  and  found 
that  the  destruction  of  the  right  labyrinth  weakened  the  postural 
contraction  of  the  right  half  much  more  than  that  of  the  left,  the 
right  half  not  being  able  to  support  as  much  weight  as  the  left  half. 

That  the  proprioceptive  circuit  is  influenced  by  the  exteroceptors 
is  maintained,  after  demonstration,  by  Sherrington  (9,  p.  472-473). 
He  says  "  the  reactions  produced  by  the  receptor  organs  of  the  deep 
field  (proprioceptwe)  are  results  primarily  due  to  the  stimulation  of 
the  organism  by  itself,  but  secondarily  due  to  the  stimulation  of  the 
organism  by  the  environment,"  that  is,  through  the  exteroceptors. 

The  proprioceptive  reflex  "  allies  itself  in  its  effect  to  the  primary 
reflex  excited  from  the  exteroceptive  surface  and  reenforces  it,"  or 
it  may  oppose  the  effect  of  a  conflicting  exteroceptive  stimulus.  For 
example  the  flexion  reflex  of  the  hind  limb  of  a  dog  can  be  elicited 
by  an  adequate  stimulus  applied  to  either  the  skin  of  the  foot  or  the 
afferent  nerve  fibers  of  the  flexor  muscles  themselves  or  by  the  syn- 
chronous sublimal  stimulation  of  both  afferent  (extero-  and  proprio- 
ceptive) nerves.  These  stimuli  mutually  reenforce  stimulation  of 
the  afferent  nerve  of  a  flexor  muscle  of  the  opposite  leg.  Then  the 
second  or  proprioceptive  reflex  restores  the  comfortable  posture  of 
the  limb  which  the  exteroceptive  reflex  has  disturbed.  The  proprio- 
ceptors evoke  a  compensatory  reflex  in  the  opposite  direction  to  the 
reflex  excited  from  the  skin,  the  exteroceptive  surface.  Langelaan 
(8,  p.  330)  agrees  with  this  conception  of  the  relations  of  movement 
to  posture ;  "  the  tonus,  the  tendon  reflex,  and  the  clonus  are  closely 
allied  phenomena ;  and  that  they  are  composed  of  an  element,  '  con- 
traction,' due  to  the  action  of  the  motor  cell  of  the  anterior  horn 
and  by  an  element  'plasticity*  ('autonomic  tonus*),  due  to  the  ac- 
tion of  the  sympathetic  motor  cell  of  the  cord.  In  tonus  the  auto- 
nomic component  prevails.  In  the  tendon  reflex  the  twitch  domi- 
nates the  tonic  contraction." 

Sherrington's  researches  indicate  that  the  activities  of  the  pro- 
prioceptors are  indirectly  but  primarily  under  the  control  of  the 
autonomic  nervous  system,  and,  although  he  does  not  specifically 
claim  that  the  aflfective  state  regulates  postural  tonus,  he  mentions 
the  frog's  sexual  clasp  and  catatonia,  phenomena  that  may  be  con- 
sidered as  being  caused  by  an  affective  state,  as  examples  of 
unfatiguability  of  postural  tonus.     Every  intelligent  individual  is 


20  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

aware  of  the  weakening  influence  upon  his  muscle  tonus  when 
something  causes  a  hopeless  fear  and  on  the  other  hand,  when 
his  anger  is  socially  justifiable,  his  postural  vigor  is  tremendously 
increased.  The  compensatory  affective  state  is  surely  reenforced  by 
the  postural  skeletal  tonus,  but  the  affective  tension  has  its  origin 
in  some  viscus  because  the  phenomenon  of  reflex  change  in  postural 
tonus  instantly  follows  affective  repression;  as,  when  one  holds  a 
cigar  in  a  light  postural  grip  and  suddenly,  upon  repressing  or  con- 
cealing an  emotional  reaction  to  a  situation,  a  momentary  postural 
relaxation  occurs  and  gravity  pulls  the  cigar  from  the  fingers.  Such 
phenomena  can  only  be  explained  as  a  change  in  postural  tonus  fol- 
lowing a  change  of  affect.  Langelaan  (8,  p.  338)  and  DeBoer  and 
Mosso  (7,  p.  231)  maintain  that  the  state  of  postural  tonus  is  regu- 
lated by  the  sympathetic  or  autonomic  innervation  of  the  striped 
muscle  cell ;  whereas,  G.  van  Rinjberk^  and  J.  G.  Dusser  de  Barenne' 
argue  against  Sherrington  and  DeBoer,  maintaining  that  there  is  no 
distinct  evidence  that  the  striated  muscle  has  a  second  innervation 
of  sympathetic  origin  which  regulates  its  tonus. 

The  explanation,  that  postural  tonus  of  skeletal  musculature  is 
determined  by  the  autonomic  component,  is  the  only  theory,  so  far 
given,  that  satisfactorily  accounts  for  the  effects  of  fear,  rage  and 
love  upon  postural  tonus. 

The  dual  nature  of  the  striped  muscle  cell  and  the  dependence  of 
its  postural  tonus  upon  the  influence  of  the  autonomic  component 
supports  the  conception  that  the  activities  of  the  autonomic  sensori- 
motor apparatus  are  projected  into  the  functions  of  the  skeletal  mus- 
cular system  and  are  in  turn  reciprocally  reenforced  by  them.  The 
angry  man  or  savage  tends  to  work  himself  into  a  greater  state  of 
anger  by  cursing,  yelling  and  clenching  his  fists,  and  making  threat- 
ening gestures  and  perhaps  punishing  himself.  The  general  tonus 
of  his  skeletal  muscles  becomes  considerably  increased  and  he  can- 
not handle  a  delicate  instrument  while  in  that  physiological  state, 
although  he  can  fight  better. 

On  the  other  hand  one  may  check  the  wave  of  anger,  if  its  stim- 
ulus is  not  too  severe,  by  making  a  few  distracting  movements,  smil- 
ing, etc.     (As  "  when  angry  count  ten  before  speaking.") 

The  important  features  of  the  functions  of  the  proprioceptive 
circuit  of  the  skeletal  musculature  for  psychology  are  that  its  activ- 
ity is  virtually  continuous,  occurring  automatically  and  contributing 
to  the  most  fundamental  functions  of  the  personality;  that  the 
degree  of  its  vigor  is  determined  by  the  autonomic  component ;  that 

1  Arch,  de  Physiol.,  1917,  i,  257-261.     Physiological  Abstracts,  906. 

2  Pflueger's  Archive,  1916,  166,  145-168.    Physiological  Abstracts,  1638. 


FUNCTIONAL  CONSmERATIONS  OF  THE  THEORY  21 

it  is  capable  of  reciprocal  inhibition  and  reenf orcement ;  and  that  the 
subliminal  stimuli,  which  may  be  proprioceptive  or  a  mixture  of 
proprioceptive  and  exteroceptive  stimuli,  may  combine  to  produce 
a  reflex,  or  inhibit  one  another  and  prevent  it. 

Sherrington  observed  (9,  p.  473)  that  "the  reflex  due  to  the  ex- 
teroceptive surface  is  reen forced  by  the  appropriately  chosen  pro- 
prioceptive reflex  "  or  may  be  inhibited  by  an  inappropriate  posture. 
This  probably  explains  the  psychophysiological  process  of  attention, 
of  indiflference,  of  study,  etc.  When  an  individual  is  coordinated 
for  any  length  of  time  on  a  particular  course  of  study  he  distinctly 
feels  himself  to  be  maintaining  a  characteristic  tonus  of  his  skeletal 
muscles.  We  can  usually  see  distinct  characteristics  in  the  bodily 
carriage  or  posture  of  the  professional  soldier,  sailor,  clerk,  minister, 
physician,  or  plowman,  the  confirmed  criminal,  dementia  praecox, 
the  indolent,  ignorant,  refined,  hateful,  timid,  or  bold. 

When  affective  fixations  occur  and  individuals  "get  set"  on  a 
postural  course  like  the  exalted,  persecuted,  paranoiac,  or  catatonic, 
or  agitated  melancholic,  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  divert  them  from 
their  course,  that  is,  break  through  the  stereotyped  proprioceptive 
stream  with  an  exteroceptive  distraction.  Modern  psychotherapy 
usually  tries  light  forms  of  fascinating  occupation.  Often  an  auto- 
nomic or  affective  shock  like  pneumonia,  appendicitis  or  the  death 
of  some  intimately  involved  person  will  be  followed  by  an  adjust- 
ment ;  particularly  is  this  true  in  depressions. 

Pulling  oneself  together  in  order  to  study,  or  relaxing  for  light 
reading,  is  obviously  dependent  upon  postural  muscle  functions  be- 
cause the  postural  tonus  of  the  muscles  contributes  the  kinesthetic 
content  of  consciousness,  and  by  lowering  the  resistance  to  sublim- 
inal exteroceptive  stimuli  of  a  certain  order  (the  subject  of  study) 
our  apperceptive  reactions  are  greatly  extended.  We  are  well  aware 
of  postural  tensions  as  we  "  get  into  form  "  for  purely  motor  coordi- 
nations, as  a  stroke  at  a  golf  ball,  and  when  we  get  into  a  "  studious  " 
posture,  we  may  justly  assume  that  a  similar  physiological  pro- 
cedure has  also  occurred. 

Since  the  functions  of  apperception  are  at  all  times  necessary  for 
the  understanding  of  oneself,  the  behavior  of  living  objects,  or  the 
nature  of  lifeless  objects,  attention  is  called  to  the  functions  of  pos- 
tural muscle  tonus  and  the  stream  of  kinesthetic  imagery  for  the 
explanation  of  the  physiology  of  the  apperceptive  functions. 

Apparently  we  may  have  such  changes  in  the  postural  tonus  as 
reciprocally  increasing  or  decreasing  tonus  between  the  flexors  and 
extensors,  pronators  and  supinators,  abductors  and  adductors  of 


22  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

a  limb  or  several  limbs  without  overt  movement  of  the  limb;  as 
when  one  makes  his  arm  give  him  the  sensations  of  wielding  a  tennis 
racket  without  going  through  visible  movements ;  and  as  the  sensa- 
tions of  such  movements  are  made  more  vivid  the  overt  movements 
begin  to  appear. 

This  may  be  the  mechanism  of  understanding  the  behavior  of 
others — that  is,  by  miniature  forms  of  reflex  reproduction  of  the 
movements  of  others,  the  proprioceptors,  giving  the  appropriate 
kinesthetic  sensations,  enable  the  personality  to  become  aware  of  the 
significance  of  the  posture  and  movements  or  behavior  of  others. 
Children  spontaneously,  unconsciously  imitate  others  to  learn,  imi- 
tate sounds,  the  movements  of  animals,  a  speaker,  teacher,  playmate, 
machinery,  when  they  are  trying  to  get  the  full  significance  of  the 
thing  observed.  We  tend  to  reproduce  another's  movements  when 
we  describe  conduct,  adults  often  imitate  facial  expressions  to  un- 
derstand faces  of  others,  our  facial  muscles  tend  to  reproduce  the 
facial  expressions  of  our  associates.  If  the  reproducing  movements 
give  us  unpleasant  kinesthetic  sensations  we  tend  to  avoid  that 
person.  It  is  extremely  difficult  to  prevent  the  facial  muscles  from 
reacting  to  the  facial  expression  of  an  angry  person.  Friends  tend 
to  weep  and  sing  together.  This  imitative  mechanism  precipitates 
the  stampede  and  the  mob.  Its  speed  and  accuracy  of  working  is  to 
be  seen  in  the  darting  and  leaping  of  a  school  of  fish  or  the  flight 
of  a  swarm  of  bees,  or  flock  of  birds. 

The  more  clearly  we  are  able  to  reproduce  another's  behavior  or 
facial  expression  the  more  accurately  we  understand  its  significance. 
An  Indian  best  understands  the  Indian.  The  postural  and  personal 
characteristics  are  revealed  in  such  phrases  as  "  square  jaw,"  "  stiff 
upper  lip,"  "eagle  eye,"  "no  backbone,"  "mincing  step,"  "a  Miss 
Nancy,"  etc.  When  we  try  to  recall  an  experience  we  assume  a 
characteristic  attitude  as  we  direct  our  attention  to  the  postural 
immitations  of  the  experience. 

Frequently  in  making  explanations  we  find  ourselves,  when  lost 
for  words,  going  through  explanatory  movements  which  may  even 
be  embarrassing  and  not  desirable  under  the  circumstances.  The  art 
of  the  stage  is  founded  entirely  on  the  physiology  of  inducing  the 
people  in  the  audience  to  forget  themselves  in  order  that  they  may 
give  themselves  up  to  their  imitative  tendencies  and  reproduce  the 
feelings,  and,  in  miniature,  the  behavior  of  the  actor.  The  actor 
that  succeds  in  this  seduction  is  applauded  for  his  effectiveness.  But 
when  his  movements  are  incongruous  the  observer  feels  the  incon- 
gruity and  a  conflict  in  his  tendencies  to  follow  the  actor  or  his  own 
desires. 


FUNCTIONAL  CONSIDERATIONS  OF  THE  THEORY  23 

Furthermore  the  facial  expressions  of  anger,  pleasure,  disgust, 
deception,  sincerity,  etc.,  are  really  not  intuitively  understood,  but 
seem  to  be  reflexly  understood  because  of  the  reflex  imitation 
throtigh  similar,  brief  mtiscle  tensions  which  give  the  necessary 
kinesthetic  or  proprioceptive  sensations  upon  which  our  understand- 
ing is  based. 

The  degree  with  which  the  postural  changes  of  muscles  must  be 
involved  in  order  to  explain  the  lightning-like  quickness  of  thought 
and  its  bewildering  complexity  may  seem  rather  contradictory  par- 
ticularly in  such  instances  as  abstract  philosophical  or  mathematical 
discussion.  The  bases  for  such  forms  of  thought  lie  perhaps  in  the 
motor  functions  of  the  speech  apparatus  and  the  muscles  that  move 
the  eyeball,  the  head  and  the  hand.  Complexes  of  extensive  bodily 
movements  may  be  represented  by  abbreviated  motor  functions  in 
these  muscle  groups. 

Sherrington  (7,  p.  209)  states  that  the  extrinsic  muscles  of  the 
eyeball  are  preeminently  postural  in  their  functions. 

The  peripheral  dependence  of  postural  muscle  tonus  upon  the 
proprioceptor,  constituting  the  source  of  kinesthetic  imagery,  indi- 
cates that  in  a  certain  sense  we  think  with  our  muscles.  This  is 
another  contribution  to  the  conception  of  peripheral  instead  of  cen- 
tral origin  of  "  thought."  The  rather  universal  assumption  as  to  the 
central  origin  of  thought,  that  the  "  mind  "  or  consciousness  is  in  the 
frontal  region  of  the  brain,  is  probably  due  to  the  dominating  activ- 
ity of  the  visual  receptors  and  their  extrinsic  muscles,  causing  most 
of  the  content  of  consciousness  to  have  its  source  in  the  upper,  front 
part  of  the  head.  The  nature  of  the  content  of  consciousness  is 
probably  entirely  determined  by  the  activity  of  our  receptors,  and 
the  greater  part  of  the  receptor  field  is  the  proprioceptive  from 
which  arise  the  kinesthetic  sensations  of  movement.  The  content 
of  consciousness  may  therefore  be  compared  to  a  complicated  mov- 
ing picture  of  vivid  and  dim  figures  which  are  all  made  of  black 
dots,  and,  as  the  black  dots  are  shifted  in  their  arrangements  and 
intensity,  the  picture  changes.  Let  us  assume  that  each  receptor  in 
the  body  is  represented  by  a  dot,  and  the  vigor  of  the  receptor's 
activity  is  represented  by  the  vividness  of  the  dot.  Then,  as  the 
various  receptor  fields  become  associated  together  or  dissociated  in 
their  afferent  contributions,  the  content  of  consciousness  becomes 
changed. 

This  is  virtually  saying  that  we  think  with  our  muscles,  because 
the  kinesthetic  impulse  (dots)  arising  from  the  embedded  proprio- 
ceptors are  much  more  numerous  than  all  the  others.     For  example. 


24  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

if  we  allow  ourselves  to  become  aware  of  the  visual  image  of  a  mov- 
ing automobile,  the  awareness  of  its  movement  is  furnished  by  ex- 
trinsic muscles  of  the  eyeball  as  they  shift  the  image  by  shifting 
their  postural  tensions.  Overt  movements  are  not  necessary  unless 
we  desire  a  very  vivid  image,  then,  also,  the  muscles  of  the  neck 
may  contribute  by  moving  the  head.  If  the  image  of  the  moving 
automobile  is  one  of  ourselves  pushing  it,  then  the  muscles  of  the 
body  come  into  play  to  furnish  the  images  (receptor  dots),  and,  if 
it  is  to  include  pushing  it  through  a  cold,  wet,  muddy  road,  the  sen- 
sations of  coldness  and  wetness  arise  from  the  tactile  receptors  of 
the  skin  of  our  legs.  If  the  description  of  the  experience  includes 
the  reproduction  of  an  accident  (say  slipping),  we  feel  the  image  of 
the  movement  of  the  slipping  in  our  legs  first,  and,  the  remainder  of 
the  body  then  adjusting  and  coordinating  to  the  change  of  posture. 
(The  reader  must  discriminate  between  the  printed  word-images  of 
the  automobile  incident,  as  he  reads,  and  the  visual-motor  images.) 

The  postural  motor  tensions  of  our  striped  muscles  contribute 
the  kinesthetic  impulses  or  images  of  movements  that  reproduce  the 
experience.  If  we  cannot  reproduce  the  experience  we  cannot  re- 
call it,  and  those  who  have  not  had  the  experience  of  hearing  or 
seeing  a  savage  playing  a  "  botabo  "  are  unable  to  become  conscious 
of  anything  more  than  a  vague,  indefinite  picture,  because  they 
cannot  grossly  reproduce  the  movements  and  weird  rhythms.  But, 
if  someone  should  speak  of  a  small  boy  playing  "  In  the  Good  Old 
Summer  Time"  on  his  mouth  harp,  we  quickly  get  a  vivid  visual 
and  motor  image  of  it. 

It  may  be  contended  that  should  an  individual  lose  a  limb  or 
group  of  muscles  he  loses  part  of  his  psychic  personality.  This 
would  probably  be  found  to  be  the  case  on  minute  analysis  of  his 
psychic  functions  but  no  gross  changes  may  be  observable  because 
the  remaining  muscles  that  had  been  adjusting  to  the  special  activi- 
ties of  the  formerly  intact  group  may  almost  completely  supply  the 
deficiency,  as  in  adjusting  to  walking  with  an  artificial  foot.  The 
manifold  primary  adjustments  of  various  parts  of  the  body  to  a 
single  object  like  a  pencil  and  the  secondary  adjustments  to  one  an- 
other, enable  us  to  learn  about  the  pencil  in  numerous  ways  besides 
through  the  eye  and  hand.  Hence  with  the  loss  of  the  eye  and  hand 
knowledge  about  pencils  is  partly,  though  not  ostensibly,  lost. 

Watson  (id,  pp.  430-431)  found  that  the  behavior  of  rats  was 
little  disturbed  by  the  loss  of  the  visual,  auditory,  and  olfactory  re- 
ceptors. He  maintains  that  "  there  are  no  centrally  aroused  sensa- 
tions and  that  even  in  '  thought '  there  is  always  a  movement  of  a 
muscular  mass  somewhere." 


FUNCTIONAL  CONSmERATIONS  OF  THE  THEORY  25 

The  Autonomic   Component — Postural   Tonus   of   the    Unstriped 
Muscle — Its  Influence  on  the  Striped  Muscle 

Sherrington's  work  on  the  proprioceptive  circuit  has  finally  com- 
pelled the  inclusion  of  the  effector  muscle  cell  or  secretory  cell  as  an 
indispensable  factor  or  organ  for  the  circulation  of  energy  in  the 
autonomic  apparatus,  since  the  autonomic  motor  (efferent)  neurones 
are  greatly  influenced  (stimulated  or  depressed)  in  their  activities  by 
the  afferent  currents  from  the  proprioceptors  which,  in  turn,  are 
aroused  by  the  muscle  cells'  activities,  making  an  efferent-afferant- 
efferent  circuit,  and  so  on.  His  work  on  the  postural  tonus  of  the 
hollow  viscera  and  vascular  system  has  demonstrated  that  they  must 
contribute  an  enormous,  continuously  circulating  stream  of  auto- 
nomic activity  to  the  personality,  and  this  mechanism  supports  the 
conception  that  the  autonomic  functions  are  in  themselves  the  dy- 
namic component  of  the  personality,  as  the  following  experiments 
show. 

Mosso  and  Pellacani  (cited  by  Sherrington,  7,  p.  215)  observed 
that  the  bladder  in  a  dog  could  hold  at  even  close  intervals  different 
volumes  of  water  ranging  from  10  c.c.  to  90  c.c.  at  the  same  intra- 
vesical pressure.  They  concluded  from  their  experiments  in  man 
that  an  intravesical  pressure  of  18  cm.  was  accompanied  by  a  desire 
to  micturate ;  and  "  they  point  out  that  the  stimulus  exciting  desire 
to  micturate  is  closely  related  with  intravesical  pressure  but  not 
closely  with  the  quantity  of  bladder  content ;  i.  e.,  bladder  volume.'* 
They  found  also  that  the  capacity  of  the  bladder  to  adjust  its  pres- 
sure to  increase  or  decrease  of  content  was  very  rapid  and  did  not 
depend  upon  the  quantity  of  fluid  it  contained.  A  quantity  of  fluid 
injected  into  the  bladder  would  cause  desire  to  micturate  when  the 
pressure  arose  over  j8  cm.  but  if  the  fluid  was  retained  the  pressure 
soon  fell  to  below  18  cm.  (water)  and  the  desire  disappeared.  (In 
voluntary,  prophylactic  micturition  the  abdominal  muscles  are  con- 
tracted, the  intravesicular  pressure  is  thus  increased  and  the  desire 
to  micturate  is  then  felt.) 

Sherrington  compares  (7,  p.  217)  the  light  grip  of  the  bladder 
wall  on  the  fluid  contents  to  the  hands  gripping  a  ball  and  says  their 
postural  functions  are  "  analogous."  In  the  case  of  the  bladder  its 
postural  tonus  depends,  it  seems,  upon  the  intravesicular  contents 
arousing  afferent  stimuli  which  in  turn  cause  the  posture  of  the 
bladder  to  change  sufficiently  to  lessen  the  intravesicular  pressure 
and  diminish  the  stimuli.  The  relation  of  postural  vesicle  tonus  and 
the  peripheral  genesis  of  a  desire  has  been  experimentally  demoru- 
strated. 


26  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

*' Direct  observation"  Sherrington  says  (7,  p.  219)  "shows  the 
ability  of  the  fundus  (stomach)  to  adjust  suitably  its  postural  con- 
traction in  the  case  of  diminishing  content "  and  also  in  increasing 
content.  Although  this  power  is  present  in  the  excised  organ  it  is 
less  ample  and  less  perfect  than  under  natural  conditions. 

Grey  (50)  makes  the  following  conclusions  from  his  experiments 
on  the  postural  activity  of  the  stomach:  "the  normal  stomach 
possesses  a  striking  capacity  for  adapting  its  size  to  the  volume  of 
its  contents  with  only  minimal  changes  in  intragastric  pressure. 
This  capacity  disappears  only  shortly  before  the  viscus  ruptures." 
"  The  extrinsic  nerves  have  nothing  directly  to  do  with  the  postural 
configuration  of  the  viscus.  The  mechanism  responsible  for  these 
changes  concerns  solely  the  musculature  itself,  together  with  the 
intrinsic  nervous  mechanism" — that  is,  the  nerve  cells  imbedded  in 
the  gastric  walls.  (Italics  inserted.)  Grey's  experiments  demon- 
strate the  surprising  degree  of  independence  the  stomach  has  for 
regulating  its  own  postural  tensions,  hence  its  semi-independence  as 
an  affective  source,  influencing  the  remainder  of  the  organism  to 
adjust  to  it. 

Sherrington  (7,  p.  222)  compares  the  auricles  of  the  heart  to  the 
fundus  of  the  stomach  and  the  ventricles  to  the  pylorus,  and  regards 
the  auricles'  variation  in  capacity  at  different  times  as  a  function  of 
postural  tonus.  He  holds  also  (7,  p.  223)  that  in  arterial  vessels, 
when  they  accommodate  to  the  posture  of  the  body  and  maintain  a 
fairly  constant  pressure  upon  the  changing  volume  of  the  contents, 
as  in  the  horizontal  and  erect  position  of  the  body,  the  postural 
tonus  is  analogous  to  the  postural  function  of  the  bladder  or  stomach. 

The  relative  unfatigability  of  postural  tonus  "is  often  extra- 
ordinarily great"  (7,  p.  226).  Sherrington  has  observed  postural 
contraction  in  the  decerebrate  cat  to  last  for  six  days  and  includes 
the  embrace  posture  of  the  male  toad  and  cataleptic  postures  in 
psychoses  as  phenomena  of  postural  tonus. 

In  the  postural  tonus  of  the  bladder  we  find  a  definite  example 
of  the  physiological  functions  of  a  division  of  the  autonomic  appa- 
ratus generating  a  desire  by  producing  peripheral  sensations  which 
in  turn  dominate  the  behavior  of  the  organism,  exhibiting  clearly, 
a  dynamic  influence  of  peripheral  origin  that  determines  the  activi- 
ties of  the  personality. 

Phenomena  of  excessively  repeated  acts  of  micturition  in  psycho- 
neuroses  indicate  that  a  mechanism  exists  which  may  cause  the 
bladder  to  maintain  a  fixed  tonus  so  that  when  the  vesicular  con- 
tents reach  a  certain  quantity  an  intravesicular  pressure  causing  a 


FUNCTIONAL  CONSIDERATIONS  OF  THE  THEORY  27 

desire  occurs.  Such  spastic  states  of  viscera,  psychoneuroses  show, 
dominate  nearly  all  other  interests  of  the  organism  or  personality 
when  they  exist.  Langelaan  (8,  p.  331)  makes  the  encouraging  sug- 
gestion that  perhaps  certain  types  of  convulsive  seizure  and  some 
progressive  myopathies  are  related  to  the  autonomic  component, 
and  Sherrington  includes  the  cataleptic  postures,  which  may  endure 
for  months. 

Since  the  proprioceptive  arc  must  be  continuously  active  in  order 
to  maintain  the  postural  tonus  of  the  bladder,  it  is  necessary  to  as- 
sume that,  so  long  as  the  individual  is  unconscious  of  the  activities 
of  his  vesicular  proprioceptive  system,  these  activities  are  not  in- 
tense enough  to  arouse  the  reactions  of  the  organism  as  a  whole. 
When  they  do  become  intense  enough  to  cause  the  entire  organism 
to  make  an  adaptation  to  the  dominating  activity  of  this  part,  namely, 
in  the  preparation  for,  and  in  the  act  of  micturition,  then  we  have  a 
distinct  physiological  function,  which  is,  in  a  definite  sense,  dif- 
ferent from  the  previous  subliminal  functional  state,  and  which 
causes  a  compelling  craving  to  micturate ;  that  is,  a  wish. 

In  this  instance  the  phenomenon  of  awareness  or  consciousness 
occurs  when  the  body  as  a  unity  must  adjust  itself  to  the  special  or 
dominating  activity  of  one  of  its  parts.^ 

If  it  is  true  that  the  proprioceptive  arc  is  necessary  for  the  main- 
tenance of  the  postural  tonus  of  visceral  muscles,  and  these  muscles 
in  turn  stimulate  the  intramural  receptors  of  the  afferent  arcs,  and 
the  circuitous  flow  of  energy  is  practically  continuous,  although 
varying  in  its  rapidity,  then  we  have  at  last  a  satisfactory  physiolog- 
ical basis  for  the  conception  that  from  each  visceral  division  flows  a 
continuous  afferent  stream  of  subliminal  stimuli  (feelings)  recipro- 
cally, though,  perhaps,  indirectly,  influencing  the  functions  of  the 
other  organs  separately  as  well  as  collectively.  And,  further,  when 
the  postural  tension  of  a  division  or  an  organ,  like  the  bladder, 
stomach  or  genitalia,  is  increased  to  a  greater  degree  than  the  ten- 
sions of  the  other  organs,  the  afferent,  sensory,  flow  from  this  organ 
or  division  dominates  the  afferent  flow  of  the  remainder  of  the 
group,  thereby  dominating  the  behavior  of  the  animal,  ».  e.,  to  apply 
this  principle  to  man,  the  nature  of  the  hyperactive  viscera  deter- 
mines the  nature  of  the  affections  or  wishes  that  we  are  conscious  of 
and  explains  the  fact  that  we  are  never  directly  dominated  by  purely 
one  emotional  craving  or  one  wish.  Our  wishes  are  all  more  or 
less  active. 

It  is  much  more  practical  and  satisfactory  for  the  psychologist 

'  This  explanation  of  consciousness  of  self  and  of  the  environment  will 
be  later  referred  to  more  fully. 


28  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

l_  and  psychopathologist  to  work  with  a  hypothetical  conception  of  the 
personality  that  considers  it  as  an  interwoven,  continuous  stream  of 
affective  cravings  of  unfathomable  depth  and  numerous  shades  of 
aversive  and  acquisitive  tendencies  toward  the  world  as  it  is  consti- 
tuted for  that  personality;  some  cravings  reen forcing  each  other, 
some  repressing  each  other,  some  overcompensating  for  the  deficien- 
cies of  others ;  all,  more  or  less,  actively  striving  to  attain  the  con- 
trol of  the  personality  in  order  to  acquire  satisfactory  stimuli  through 
the  adequate  exposure  of  appropriate  receptorsA^ 

To  present  the  same  conception  concretely  we  must  learn  to  see 
the  living,  working  body  as  a  complex  unity  because  of  the  individual 
importance  of  the  postural  tensions  of  each  autonomic  division,  the 
salivary  glands,  stomach,  liver,  intestines,  rectum,  diaphragm,  heart, 
lungs,  kidneys,  bladder,  prostate,  genitalia,  etc.,  all  more  or  less, 
vigorously  striving,  at  times  quite  independently,  with  one  another,  to 
dominate  the  final  common  projicient  motor  paths,  in  order  that  the 
exteroceptors  will  be  appropriately  exposed  to  stimuli.     (See  Fig.  2.) 

The  nature  of  the  afferent  stream  emanating  from  a  diseased,  or 
an  organically  inferior,  or  an  organically  superior  organ,  or  from  a 
repressed,  or  an  excessively  used  organ,  modifies  the  relative  impor- 
tance of  the  afferent  contributions  from  the  other  organs  and  may 
seriously  interfere  with  the  personality's  general  development  and 
comfort.  For  example,  if  a  woman,  whose  organic  constitution  is 
unusually  voluptuous,  who  cannot  avoid  having  incessant,  vigorous 
cravings  for  maternity,  is  married  to  an  impotent,  unambitious  man, 
although  organically  constituted  for  prohfic  reproduction  and  hap- 
piness, she  must  suffer  incessant  anxiety  because  she  is  bound  by 
society  to  avoid  living  naturally.  The  potent-husband-and-frigid- 
wife  dilemma,  and  the  reverse,  are  among  the  most  persistent  to  be 
met  with  in  social  problems. 

The  above  hypothesis  explains  how  the  increased  postural  tonus 
of  an  important  viscus  may  be  the  source  of  a  persistent  afferent 
stream  of  nervous  impulses  (feelings  to  act)  which  are  intense 
enough  to  entirely  dominate  the  other  affections  for  a  period  of 
time — such  as  a  particular  postural  tonus  of  the  rectum  and  its 
sphincters  which  would  compel  preparations  for  defecation.  Psy- 
chotics,  who  feel  they  must  defecate  but  cannot  (this  I  have  ob- 
served to  continue  for  a  long  period  of  time),  show  the  most  intense 
distress  and  inability  to  become  interested  in  anything  else. 

If  it  is  possible,  as  psychotics  abundantly  indicate,  and  those  who 
recover  through  a  psychoanalysis  substantiate,  that  instead  of  a 
brief  period  of  distressing  posture  of  a  viscus  the  posture  may  be 


FUNCTIONAL  CONSIDERATIONS  OF  THE  THEORY 


29 


^., 


-P  £.- 


-c 


Fig.  2.  This  diagram  represents  the  continuity  of  the  energic  stream 
flowing  through  nutritional,  sexual  and  sublimational  functions  of  the  per- 
sonality. At  no  particular  point  does  it  have  a  beginning  or  an  end.  The 
large  figure  represents  the  healthy,  happy,  well-balanced,  progressive,  con- 
structive, virile  personality.  He  is  so  constituted  because,  being  free  from 
serious  affective  repressions,  he  lives  a  well-rounded-out  biological  career. 
This,  the  most  general  type,  is  the  most  difficult  to  maintain  throughout  the 
struggle  for  potency.  (Comfortable  potency  exists  in  proportion  to  the  suc- 
cessfulness  of  the  compensation  for  fear.) 

The  smaller  figures  represent  the  six  different  general  types  of  eccentric 
deviations  from  the  normal  that  may  occur  because  of  organic  inferiority,  as 
in  the  idiot  (C)  or  excessively  fecundating  moron  (£) ;  or  because  of  func- 
tional inferiority  due  to  affective-autonomic  repression,  as  in  the  chronic, 
profoundly  dissociated  personality  (C),  or  in  some  prostitutes  (£).  The 
representations  of  the  six  figures  are  given  below.  The  capacity  for  ex- 
tension or  retraction  in  the  various  directions  should  be  recognized  as  elastic, 
varying  greatly  at  different  times  for  the  same  individual. 

A — the  undernourished  striving,  asectic,  paranoid,  philosophizing  type. 

B — the  emaciated,  autoerotic,  demented — organic  and  functional. 

C — the  fat,  gormandizing,  demented — organic  and  functional. 

D — the  erotic,  inspirational,  eccentric  manic  tjrpe. 

E — the  pimp,  prostitute,  and  fecundating  moron  type. 

F — the  comfortable,  ascetic,  gormandizing,  religious  type. 


30  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

sustained  for  long  periods  of  time,  then,  probably,  we  have  discov- 
ered the  elementary  physiological  foundations  for  the  development 
of  the  eccentric  traits  of  character  in  personality.  Cgach  individual 
organ  of  the  viscera,  containing  an  afferent  innervation,  and  each 
field  of  distribution  of  the  circulatory  system  must  be  considered. 
The  infinite  capacity  for  postural  variation  among  individuals,  and 
the  similarity  of  the  psychic  productions  of  individuals  possessing 
similar  dominant  postural  traits  seem  to  be  best  explained  by  this 
hypothesis/^i, 

Sherrington  (9,  p.  474)  suggests  that  "one  function  this  tonus 

yimay  serve  is  that  of  an  adjuvant  to  so-called  muscular  sense*'* 

^"  Much  of  the  reflex  reaction  expressed  by  the  skeletal  musculature 

is  not  motile,  but  postural,  and  has  as  its  result  not  a  movement,  but 

the  steady  maintenance  of  an  attitude." 

A  young  man  carries  his  hands  like  his  father,  another  walks  like 
his  father,  another  holds  his  head  tilted  toward  one  shoulder  like 
his  father,  a  daughter  tried  to  have  a  deformed  finger  like  her 
father's,  another  works  the  muscles  of  her  cheeks,  unconsciously 
imitating  her  father,  internes  in  hospitals  notoriously  imitate  their 
chiefs  of  the  staff,  students  wear  their  clothes,  hats,  carry  their  bodies, 
facial  expression,  accent  their  words,  adopt  the  characteristic  phrases, 
moral  and  social  attitudes  of  their  teachers  or  of  older,  socially  potent 
students.  Postural  imitation,  in  order  to  develop  a  personality  like 
the  hero,  is  the  eternal  effort  of  the  hero  worshipper.  Children 
learn  to  spit  like  others,  laugh  like  their  playmates,  cut  their  fingers, 
injure  themselves,  tear  and  soil  their  clothing  and  adopt  countless 
artifices  in  order  to  be  like  their  associates.  The  influence  of  asso- 
ciates upon  the  personality  is  a  physiological  mechanism  and  occurs 
unconsciously,  or  at  least  begins  unconsciously. 

The  tendency  to  maintain  a  characteristic  setting  of  the  facial 
muscles,  vocal  cords,  diaphragm,  muscles  of  the  thorax,  carriage  of 
the  body,  is  apparently  traceable  to  the  aflfective  disposition  of  the 
individual — "  the  autonomic  component."  When  the  artist  wishes 
to  portray  a  certain  affective  state,  he  must  paint  his  figure  in  a  char- 
acteristic posture  so  that  the  postural  imitative  reactions  of  the 
viewers  will  give  them  a  characteristic  content  of  consciousness.^ 

Peripheral  Origin  of  the  Emotions 

That  the  visceral  functions  have  a  fundamental  influence  on  the 
personality,  no  one  questions,  but  the  nature  of  this  influence  has 
long  been  a  controversial  subject  for  physiology  and  psychology. 

*  Italics  mine. 


FUNCTIONAL  CONSIDERATIONS  OF  THE  THEORY  3 1 

Sherrington  (II)  has  concluded  that  the  visceral  functions  only  re- 
enforce  the  affective  state  and  do  not  produce  it,  being  secondary  to 
cerebral  emotional  activities. 

A  reconsideration  of  his  experiments,  however,  shows  that  if 
the  postural  tensions  of  the  diaphragm,  which  introspective  analysis 
indicates  reacts  significantly  to  potentially  painful  or  pleasant  exo- 
genous stimuli,  are  given  due  importance  in  their  reciprocal  mechan- 
ical influence  upon  respiration,  cardiac  contractions  and  alimentary 
adaptations,  the  experiments  do  not  refute  the  physiological  mech- 
anism of  James'  theory. 

Sherrington  found  (II,  p.  389)  that  spinal  transection  through 
the  seventh  cervical  segment  and  the  section  of  the  vagi  above  both 
recurrent  laryngeal  branches,  and  of  the  sympathetic  trunks  at  the 
same  level  did  not  "  dull "  a  young  puppy's  exhibitions  of  "  joy," 
"  pleasure,"  and  "  fear,"  or  an  older  bitch's  reactions  of  "  anger," 
"  disgust,"  "  pleasure  "  and  "  fear."  The  afferent  and  efferent  nerve 
supply  of  the  diaphragm  was  left  intact.  The  viscera,  which  were 
connected  with  the  autonomic  centers  in  the  spinal  cord,  were  ex- 
posed to  the  mechanical  influence  of  emotional  changes  in  the  ten- 
sion of  the  diaphragm.  Through  well  established  habitual  and 
phylogenetic  associations  these  postures  may  have  been  a  connect- 
ing mechanical  medium  of  influence  between  the  part  of  the  animal 
which  was  intact  with  the  brain  and  the  segregated  part.**  The 
motor  reactions  of  the  muscles  of  the  head,  fore  legs,  larynx  and 
diaphragm  (as  indicated  by  the  barking  and  breathing)  were  typ- 
ical of  "aggressive  rage."***  Such  violent  reactions  might  have 
characteristic  mechanical  influences  upon  the  viscera  and  surely 
affect  the  contents  of  the  great  blood-vessels.  It  is  not  safe  to 
assume  that  the  viscera  and  motor  tensions  which  were  still  con- 
nected with  the  brain  were  not  causing  consciousness  of  typical  sen- 
sations which  constituted  the  emotion,  and  that  the  segregated  part, 
when  normal,  did  not  greatly  increase  and  reenforce  the  affective 
disturbance. 

That  the  autonomic  apparatus  may  be  conditioned  to  react  to 
stimuli  even  during  a  state  of  cerebral  anesthesia  is  shown  by  Sher- 

**  It  is  not  established  that  the  operation  completely  separated  the  viscera 
from  efferent  and  afferent  influences  with  the  brain  although  in  the  dog  the 
connecting  fibers  between  the  cervical  sympathetic  and  thoracic  s5Tnpathetic 
lie  in  the  same  sheath  with  the  vagus  and  the  depressor  branch  of  the  superior 
laryngeal  (Sherrington). 

*^  The  method  of  testing  whether  or  not  the  spinal  dogs  showed  emo- 
tional responses  to  exogenous  cerebral  stimuli  was  to  bring  appropriate 
stimuli  to  play  upon  the  exterceptors  in  a  natural  manner,  such  as  dog's  flesh 
in  milk  to  arouse  disgust,  scolding  to  arouse  fear,  and  a  cat  to  arouse  rage. 

4 


32  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

rington's  Turin  spinal  dog  (II,  p.  393)-  The  cardiac  rate  and 
strength  and  respiration  showed  marked  reactions,  of  the  fear  type, 
to  auditory  stimuli  which  had  formerly  accompanied  pain  stimuli 
(faradic  current). 

James'  theory  of  the  emotions,  maintains  that  affect  producing 
motor  responses  to  agreeable  or  disagreeable  stimuli  occur  before  the 
affective  reactions  are  felt,  that  is,  before  the  emotion  as  such  exists, 
and,  unless  this  motor  response  occurs  the  emotion  does  not  come 
into  existence.  Therefore,  it  may  be  held  that  the  observed  motor 
responses  of  joy,  anger,  etc.,  to  the  visual,  etc.,  stimulation  of  Sher- 
rington's spinal  dogs  were  only  partial  motor-joy,  or  fear  responses, 
but  sufficient  to  give  the  dog  a  characteristic  appearance,  though  not 
so  intense  as  when  the  entire  system  was  intact. 

The  Sherrington  argument,  in  principle,  is  the  same  as  that 
which  might  be  made  in  case  the  stomach  were  removed  and  the 
animal  still  digested  food  and  one  concluded  that  the  stomach  had  no 
digestive  functions. 

We  cannot  assume,  since  part  of  the  organism  shows  charac- 
teristic affective  types  of  motor  responses  to  agreeable  or  disagree- 
able stimuli,  that  the  isolated  or  extirpated  organs  did  not  have  very 
important  or  even  more  important  affective  functions  of  a  similar 
nature. 

The  only  manner  in  which  Sherrington's  type  of  experiment 
could  be  satisfactorily  used  to  prove  that  certain  or  all  viscera  had 
no  affective  influences  would  be  to  isolate  them  from  all  connec- 
tions with  the  cerebro-spinal  system  and  if  the  individual  still  felt 
characteristic  affective  changes,  and  no  visceral  changes  could  be 
noted,  then  we  might  conclude  at  least  that  the  motor  functions  of 
the  isolated  viscera  do  not  alone  determine  the  affective  reaction 
of  the  personality. 

Another  unsatisfactory  point  in  Sherrington's  experiments  was 
the  intact  diaphragm.  The  extensor  muscles  of  the  fore  limbs  were 
connected  with  the  brain  and,  although  the  spinal  cord  from  the 
seventh  cervical  segment  posteriorly  was  not  connected  with  the  brain 
and  anterior  portion  of  the  cord,  the  reflex  movements  of  the  fore 
limbs  (and  head  and  neck)  by  pulling  on  the  skeletal  frame,  trans- 
mitted possibly  characteristic  mechanical  influences  upon  the  iso- 
lated remainder  of  the  skeletal  musculature  and  set  up  proprio- 
ceptive reactions  that  rapidly  produced  cooperative  responses  in  the 
isolated  muscle  groups. 

The  spinal  dogs  showed  strong  aversions  for  dog's  flesh  and 
the  point  arises  that,  if  the  face,  ears,  etc.,  assumed  a  dejected  pos- 
ture, it  would  be  highly  important  to  know  what  emissive  move- 


FUNCTIONAL  CONSIDERATIONS  OF  THE  THEORY  33 

ments  the  stomach  was  making,  since  the  dog's  flesh  "  excited  dis- 
gust "  unconquerable  by  ordinary  hunger ;  and  hunger,  according  to 
Cannon,  is  dependent  upon  definite  gastric  contractions.  Since  the 
spinal  dogs  also  showed  sexual  excitement  and  nursed  young,  it  is  at 
least  safe  to  assume  that  the  visceral  functions  pertaining  to  repro- 
duction and  maternal  interests  tremendously  influenced  the  dog's 
behavior,  and  it  is  well  known  that  exteroceptive  stimuli  do  not  ex- 
cite a  bitch's  sexual  interests  if  the  reproductive  organs  are  not 
functioning  properly. 

That  Goltz's  (i,  p.  207)  dog,  with  its  cerebral  cortex  removed, 
should  have  shown  anger  symptoms  when  its  foot  was  held,  and  no 
other  affective  symptoms,  seems  to  support  the  conception  that  the 
more  highly  intricate  the  integrative  functions  of  the  cerebral  cortex 
are,  the  more  refined  and  delicate  becomes  the  affective  response. 
But  this  does  not  support  the  notion  that  the  affective  reactions,  as 
such,  originate  in  the  cortex.  The  intricate  cortex  is  only  a  medium 
of  coordinating  and  recnforcing  reactions  and  enables  the  organism 
to  react  as  a  unity  more  readily  and  more  delicately  to  the  auto- 
nomic responses  to  pain  and  pleasure  stimuli. 

Sherrington  contributed  materially  to  the  knowledge  that  pos- 
tural skeletal  muscle  tonus  is  primarily  influenced  by  the  autonomic 
system,  and  the  dejected  posture  (postural  muscle  tonus)  of  the 
spinal  dog,  disgusted  by  dog's  flesh,  suggests  strongly  that  in  some 
manner  the  unpleasant  olfactory  stimulus  had  free  access  to  the  auto- 
nomic system  of  his  dog  and  produced  strong  avertive  reactions  to 
the  odor. 

The  autonomic  genesis  of  desires,  cravings,  wishes,  emotions, 
hungers  or,  in  a  comprehensive  word,  affectivity,  by  causing  periph- 
eral proprioceptive  changes  in  the  viscera  and  circulatory  system  also 
is  supported  by  the  work  of  Cannon  and  Carlson. 

Cannon's  studies  of  hunger  (4,  p.  247)  indicate  the  mechanism 
of  the  dynamic  functions  of  the  personality.  That  hunger,  as  a 
craving,  should  have  a  peripheral  origin  should  be  given  great  sig- 
nificance in  formulating  a  conception  of  an  affective  sensori-motor 
system. 

Cannon  eliminated  emptiness  of  the  stomach  and  excessive 
hydrochloric  acid  as  causes  of  hunger  by  observing  that  hunger  oc- 
curred in  subjects  when  no  acid  was  present  in  the  stomach  contents 
or  only  slightly  present  and  that  hunger  disappeared  after  gastric 
lavage. 

Turgescence  of  the  mucous  membranes  was  disposed  of,  because, 
when  indigestible  foods  are  swallowed,  according  to  Pawlow,  no 


34  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

juices  are  secreted  to  relieve  the  turgescence,  and  hunger  disappears. 
Cannon  well  maintains  that  "all  that  we  need  as  a  support  for  the 
peripheral  reference  of  the  sensation  is  proof  that  conditions  occur 
there,  simultaneously  with  hunger  pangs  which  might  reasonably 
he  regarded  as  giving  rise  to  those  pangs."^ 

His  method  of  demonstrating  that  peripheral  changes  occurred 
at  the  moment  of  feeling  the  hunger  pangs  was  that  of  swallowing  a 
small  rubber  bulb,  then  inflating  it  and  connecting  it  with  a  record- 
ing apparatus.  A  series  of  records  showed  that  with  each  wave  of 
hunger  feeling,  concomitant  and  slightly  preceding  gastric  contrac- 
tions occurred  in  characteristically  intermittent  waves.  These  ob- 
servations were  obtained  in  others  besides  himself.  He  concludes 
(4,  p.  259)  "the  feeling  of  hunger,  which  was  reported  while  the 
contractions  were  recurring,  disappeared  as  the  waves  stopped.'* 
"The  close  concomitance  of  the  contractions  with  hunger  pangs 
therefore  clearly  indicates  that  they  are  the  real  source  of  those 
pangs." 

Carlson's  observations  (12,  p.  64),  which  were  similar  to  Can- 
non's, "on  more  than  fifty  men  are  in  complete  accord  with  those 
of  Cannon  and  Washburn."  "  There  is  a  fairly  close  correspond- 
ence between  the  strength  of  the  stomach  contractions  and  the 
degree  of  hunger  sensations  experienced  simultaneously."  (12, 
p.  69)  "The  hunger  sensation  seems  to  be  produced  by  the  con- 
tractions only.  When  the  empty  stomach  is  normal,  strong  con- 
tractions, however  caused,  produced  a  sensation  of  hunger." 
"  Hunger  contains  elements  of  kinesthetic  sensation  as  well  as  pain, 
the  latter  predominating  in  strong  hunger."  (12,  p.  65)  "Tetanus 
periods  of  the  stomach  are  invariably  accompanied  by  a  similar  fusion 
or  tetanus  of  the  hunger  sensation"  and  (12,  p.  66)  "abrupt  cessa- 
tion of  the  gastric  tetanus  at  the  end  of  a  strong  contraction  period 
is  accompanied  by  an  equally  abrupt  and  complete  cessation  of  the 
hunger  sensation."  (This  supports  the  conception  that  the  hyper- 
active viscus  determines  the  nature  of  the  dominating  affective  crav- 
ing-) 

Carlson  (12,  p.  219)  found  that  20  to  50  c.c.  of  fresh  defibrinated 
blood  from  starving  dogs  injected  into  normal  dogs  "increases  the 
gastric  tonus  and  hunger  contraction  of  the  latter,  if  their  stomachs 
are  empty  and  if  moderate  tonus  and  hunger  contractions  are  in  evi- 
dence in  the  recipient  at  the  time  of  injection  of  the  blood."  These 
reactions  did  not  occur  when  the  stomach  was  atonic.  This  indi- 
cates that  products  of  metabolism  in  the  blood  stream  probably  have 

•Italics  mine. 


FUNCTIONAL  CONSIDERATIONS  OF  THE  THEORY  35 

an  initiating  and  an  augmenting  effect  on  the  autonomic  hunger 
functions. 

Cannon's  (4,  p.  234)  description  of  hunger  contains  a  valuable 
suggestion  for  psychology.  Hunger  is  an  intermittent,  "dull  ache 
or  gnawing  pain  referred  to  the  lower  mid-chest  region  and  the  epi- 
gastrium, which  may  take  imperious  control  of  human  actions  "  and 
has  an  abrupt  onset.  Besides  the  dull  ache,  however,  "  lassitude 
and  drowsiness  may  appear,  or  faintness,  or  violent  headache,  or 
irritability  and  restlessness  such  that  continuous  effort  in  ordinary 
affairs  becomes  increasingly  difficult"  (4,  p.  236).  "The  peculiar 
dull  ache  of  hungriness,  referred  to  the  epigastrium,  is  usually  the 
organism's  first  strong  demand  for  food"  which  if  not  heeded  may 
"grow  into  a  highly  uncomfortable  pang  or  gnawing  less  definitely 
locaHzed  as  it  becomes  more  intense,"  including  the  above  quoted 
sensory  disturbances  (4,  p.  235).  "The  unpleasantness  of  hunger 
leads  to  eating,  eating  starts  gastric  digestion  and  abolishes  the  sen- 
sation. Meanwhile  the  pancreatic  and  intestinal  juices,  as  well  as 
bile,  have  been  prepared  in  the  duodenum  to  receive  the  oncoming 
chyme.  The  periodic  activity  of  the  alimentary  canal  in  fasting, 
therefore,  is  not  solely  the  source  of  hunger  pangs,  but  it  is  at  the 
same  time  an  exhibition  in  the  digestive  organs  of  readiness  for 
prompt  attack  on  the  food  swallowed  by  the  hungry  animal "  (4,  p. 
264).  This  state  of  "readiness"  really  is  a  state  of  neediness  for 
food  and  the  "dull  ache"  or  "gnawing"  sensations  may  well  be 
classed  as  itching  sensations  which  are  relieved  by  the  soothing  rub- 
bing of  foods  as  well  as  "  indigestible  "  stuff,  mucous,  gastric  lavage, 
etc.,  which  according  to  Pawlow  relieve  hunger,  although  no  juices 
are  secreted. 

The  conception  then,  that  the  unpleasant  itching  feeling  in  the 
stomach,  which  is  the  "  constant  characteristic,  the  central  fact "  of 
hunger  (4,  p.  236)  and  takes  "  imperious  control  of  human  actions," 
is  the  key  to  the  dynamic  functions  of  the  personality.  At  a  glance 
we  may  see  the  enormous  influence  produced  upon  the  behavior  of 
man  by  the  periodical  itching  in  his  stomach  and  his  elaborate  ef- 
forts to  acquire  adequate  stimuli  which  will  neutralize  the  affective 
state  of  hungriness. 

It  may  not  be  premature  here  to  claim  that  all  the  affective  func- 
tions have  the  same  physiological  principle  as  hunger,  and  that  in 
principle  all  the  affective  cravings  are,  in  their  mechanism,  forms  of 
hunger  no  matter  how  delicately,  as  sentiment,  they  may  be  poised. 
Their  dynamic  principle  is  compulsion  of  the  organism  to  acquire 
such  stimuli  as  will  soothe  the  different  forms  of  itching;  for  ex- 
ample the  phrase  "  itching  for  a  fight "  or  to  do  a  certain  act. 


36  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

That  food  hunger  should  be  classified  as  physiologically  and 
psychologically  similar  to  other  affective  cravings  or  emotions  is  not 
new.  Cannon  says  (4,  p.  232)  "  on  the  same  plane  with  pain  and  the 
dominant  emotions  of  fear  and  anger,  as  agencies  which  determine 
the  action  of  organisms,  is  the  sensation  of  hunger."  It  is  only 
necessary,  in  order  to  firmly  establish  the  James-Lange  theory  of  the 
peripheral  origin  of  emotions  to  apply  Cannon's  principle  of  the 
peripheral  origin  of  hunger  in  order  to  demonstrate  that  (charac- 
teristic) conditions  occur  somewhere  in  the  autonomic  viscera, 
"simultaneously,"  with  consciousness  of  an  affective  or  emotional 
disturbance. 

James's  theory  of  the  emotions  (13,  p.  449)  is  that  "the  bodily 
changes  follow  directly  the  perception  of  the  exciting  fact,  and  that 
our  feeling  of  the  same  changes  as  they  occur  is  the  emotion." 
"  Every  one  of  the  bodily  changes,  whatsoever  it  be,  is  felt,  acutely 
or  obscurely,  the  moment  it  occurs."  The  fact  that  bodily  changes 
occur  directly  following  a  perception  and  this  change  is  felt  as  the 
emotion  is  exactly  what  Cannon  established  when  he  demonstrated 
that  certain  forms  of  gastric  contractions  caused  a  "  gnawing  "  feel- 
ing called  hunger.  It  is  interesting  that  Cannon  disagreed  with 
Boldireff's  belief,  that  hunger  provokes  the  gastric  contractions  and 
reversed  the  conception  to  gastric  contractions  provoke  hunger  (4, 
P-  253),  then  he  stopped  and  reversed  his  dynamic  principle  by  ac- 
cepting Sherrington's  belief  that  the  other  emotions  originated  in 
the  cerebrum,  even  though  (4,  p.  211)  he  says,  "according  to  the 
argument  here  presented  the  strong  emotions,  as  fear  and  anger,  are 
rightly  interpreted  as  the  concomitants  of  bodily  changes."  (Italics 
mine.) 

It  is  now  necessary  to  demonstrate  that  environmental  condi- 
tions (exteroceptive  stimuli),  which  cause,  reflexly,  obvious  reactions 
or  symptoms  characteristic  of  definite  emotional  states,  also  cause 
visceral  changes  which  are  essentially  as  characteristic.  This  has 
in  a  sense  never  been  satisfactorily  established.  Darwin  was  in- 
clined to  feel  that  quite  opposite  emotional  states  seemed  to  accom- 
pany very  similar  motor  disturbances,  to  which  view  Cannon  and 
others  tend  to  agree.  I  hope  to  show  that  the  error  lay,  not  so  much 
in  the  observations,  but  in  the  interpretation  of  the  observations — 
particularly  the  inciting  causes  of  the  emotional  disturbances  which 
were  observed. 

It  is  first  important  to  demonstrate  that  visceral  changes  of  a 
pleasant  or  unpleasant  nature  always  occur  when  the  exteroceptors 
are  exposed  to  certain  potentially  beneficial  or  harmful  stimuli. 
These  visceral  changes  are  certainly  capable  of  causing  a  consistent 


FUNCTIONAL  CONSIDERATIONS  OF  THE  THEORY  37 

stream  of  sensory  reactions  or  feelings  which  tend  to  persist  until 
stimuli  are  acquired  that  have  the  capacity  for  relieving  the  auto- 
nomic sensorimotor  tension  or  unrest  and  reestablishing  a  compara- 
tive state  of  relaxation  or  rest. 

Pawlow  (4,  p.  4),  by  careful  surgical  methods,  made  a  side 
pouch  of  a  part  of  the  stomach  (dog)  with  a  normal  nerve  and 
blood  supply  and  wholly  separated  from  the  remainder  of  the 
stomach.  The  secretions  of  the  isolated  part  of  the  stomach  are 
considered  to  be  representative  of  the  secretory  activities  of  the 
entire  stomach. 

By  also  establishing  an  esophageal  fistula  the  swallowed  food 
dropped  out  and  was  called  sham  feeding.  By  this  means  "  Pawlow 
showed  that  the  chewing  and  swallowing  of  food  which  the  dogs 
relished  resulted,  after  a  delay  of  about  five  minutes,  in  a  flow  of 
natural  gastric  juice  from  the  side  pouch  of  the  stomach — a  flow 
which  persisted  as  long  as  the  dog  chewed  and  swallowed  the  food, 
and  continued  for  some  time  after  eating  ceased."  "And  since 
the  flow  occurred  only  when  the  dog  had  (i)  an  appetite  and  (2) 
the  material  presented  was  agreeable,  the  conclusion  is  justified  that 
this  was  a  true  psychic  secretion"  (4,  p.  5).     (Italics  mine.) 

"  The  mere  sight  or  smell  of  a  favorite  food  may  start  the  pour- 
ing out  of  the  gastric  juice  as  was  noted  by  Bidder  and  Schmidt" 
and  confirmed  by  SchifT  and  Pawlow  (4,  p.  6). 

That  such  complex  reflex  changes  are  called  "  true  psychic  secre- 
tions "  is  confusing  and  unfortunate  for  physiology  and  psychology 
because  the  above  two  sentences  contain  all  the  factors  necessary  to 
produce  physiological  responses  to  adequate  stimuli.  "When  the  dog 
has  an  appetite  "  means  certainly  that  the  physiological  state  of  the 
dog  is  appropriate  or  vulnerable  to  the  stimulus,  implying  that  much 
of  the  time  the  physiological  state  is  different  and  inappropriate  for 
the  reaction.  The  assertion  that  when  "  the  material  presented  is 
agreeable,"  or  a  "  favorite  food "  is  seen  or  smelled,  then  salivary 
and  gastric  secretions  are  started,  is  merely  stating  that  the  salivary 
and  gastric  secretory  glands  are  conditioned  to  react,  reflexly  to 
these  visual  and  olfactory  stimuli  and  the  resultant  turgescence  and 
activity  of  the  glands  cause  pleasant  feelings  (if  the  food  is  not 
withheld).  The  term  " psychic  secretion "  is  not  justified  and  is  ex- 
cessive because  it  clouds  up  the  simple  dynamic  principle  involved. 
Even  in  man,  where  the  salivary  glands  may  be  stimulated  to  secrete 
by  recalling  the  image  of  a  past  adequate  stimulus,  the  term  "  psychic 
secretion"  is  unnecessary.  It  is  clearer  to  adhere  strictly  to  what 
actually  happens  and  leave  out  unintelligible  "  psychic  "  phrases. 

Cannon  says  (4.  p.  8)  :  "  Hornburg  found  that  when  the  little 


38  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

boy  whom  he  studied  chewed  agreeable  food  (that  is,  when  the  gus- 
tatory and  perhaps  visual  and  olfactory  receptors  were  exposed  to 
adequate  stimuli)  a  more  or  less  active  secretion  of  gastric  juice  in- 
variably started,  whereas  the  chewing  of  an  indifferent  substance  (in- 
adequate stimuli),  as  gutta-percha,  was  followed  by  no  secretion." 
"These  observations  clearly  demonstrate  that  the  normal  flow  of 
the  first  digestive  fluids,  the  saliva  and  the  gastric  juice,  is  favored 
by  the  pleasurable  feelings  which  accompany  the  taste  and  smell  of 
food  during  mastication,  or  which  are  aroused  when  choice  morsels 
are  seen  or  smelled."     (Italics  and  parentheses  mine.) 

If  we  adhere  to  the  principle  of  attributing  the  "  pleasurable  feel- 
ings "  to  peripheral  autonomic  changes  because  the  latter  occur 
simultaneously  with,  or  slightly  preceding,  awareness  of  the  feel- 
ings, the  glandular  changes  should  be  considered  to  produce  the 
above  pleasant  feelings.  Adequate  stimuli  playing  upon  the  ex- 
teroceptors  of  an  organism,  when  in  an  appropriate  autonomic  state, 
cause  a  turgescence  of  certain  secretory  glands  which,  as  they  secrete, 
cause  feelings  which  are  usually  pleasant.  (The  secretions  would 
cause  unpleasant  feelings  if  the  individual  had  parotitis  or  the  food 
was  withheld.)  It  therefore  becomes  an  excessive  appendage  to 
psychology  to  require  an  additional  source  of  the  emotions. 

"Agreeable  foods"  are  really  materials  having  the  qualities,  as 
sensory  stimuli,  to  cause  reactions  which  are  "  agreeable  "  or  "  pleas- 
urable." Hence  they  are  selected  as  "choice  foods."  We  usually 
do  not  choose  the  food  and  then  wish  the  glandular  activities  to 
follow.  The  glandular  activities,  the  vasomotor  turgescence  and  the 
autonomic  activities  which  result  from  these  stimuli  cause  the  "  pleas- 
urable feelings,"  just  as  the  gastric  contractions  cause  the  feel- 
ings of  hunger.  When  the  feelings  of  hunger  are  accompanied 
by  assurances  of  prompt  and  adequate  gratification  they  are  con- 
sidered to  be  most  desirable,  and  we  are  pleased  to  feel  our  "  mouths 
water,"  but  when  they  are  accompanied  by  fears  of  not  being  satis- 
fied, we  speak  of  "  pangs  of  hunger  "  and  dislike  to  have  our  mouths 
water.  (See  Hornberg's  boy.)  When  the  food  is  attractive  to  all 
the  others  at  the  table  and,  because  of  anxiety  about  personal  respon- 
sibilities or  love  disappointments,  etc.,  we  find  that  our  mouths  do 
not  water,  we  complain  of  very  unpleasant  feelings  which  may  not 
only  be  referred  to  the  dry  mouth  but  also  to  the  griping  viscera  and 
inadequate  food  stimuli. 

(When  we  are  not  distracted  by  worries  and  fears  our  digestive 
processes  functionate  so  as  to  give  us  a  comfortable  sense  of  po- 
tency.) 

"The  conditions  favorable  to  proper  digestion  are  wholly  abol- 


FUNCTIONAL  CONSIDERATIONS  OF  THE  THEORY  39 

ished  when  unpleasant  feelings  such  as  vexation  and  worry  and 
anxiety,  or  great  emotions  such  as  anger  and  fear,  are  allowed  to 
prevail"  (4,  p.  9). 

In  the  following  series  of  observations  of  visceral  reactions  un- 
favorable to  digestion  it  should  be  noted  that  in  each  instance  the 
animal  was  exposed  to  stimuli  that  may  have  first  caused  fear  reac- 
tions (types  of  painful  stimuli)  and  then  the  autonomic  system  pro- 
tected itself  by  compensating  with  an  anger  state  which  would  de- 
stroy or  remove  the  pain  producing  stimulus. 

Romberg's  boy  (4,  p.  9)  became  "vexed"  (angry)  when  he 
could  not  eat  at  once  and  began  to  cry,  then  no  secretion  appeared 
and  Bogen's  child  (4,  p.  10),  with  closed  esophagus  and  gastric 
fistula,  "sometimes  fell  into  such  a  passion"  (anger),  "in  conse- 
quence of  vain  hoping  for  food,  that  the  giving  of  the  food  after  the 
child  was  calmed,  was  not  followed  by  any  flow  of  the  secretion." 

In  both  observations  delaying  the  food  seems  to  have  been  a 
form  of  painful  fear  stimulus  which  aroused  compensatory  anger 
reactions  in  order  to  procure  the  food  by  destroying  the  resistances. 
It  might  be  held  that  the  digestive  functions  of  the  viscera  were  tem- 
porarily changed  to  anger  functions  and  thus  the  secretions  did  not 
appear.  The  cries  of  the  child  may  be  regarded  as  the  final  reac- 
tions to  visceral  feelings  that  were  made  unpleasant  by  delaying  the 
food. 

These  observations  demonstrate  that  pleasant  digestive  reactions 
result  from  adequate  stimuli,  but  when  the  latter  are  compounded 
with  harmful  (pain)  stimuli  (withholding  the  food)  visceral  changes 
occur  which  impair  the  digestive  functions.  The  visceral  disturb- 
ances become  unpleasant  as  they  tend  to  impair  the  digestive  func- 
tions; they  retard  vitally  necessary  functions  of  life. 

Bickel  and  Sasaki  (4,  p.  11),  as  referred  to  by  Cannon,  observed 
that  a  dog's  stomach  secreted  66.7  c.c.  of  pure  gastric  juice  in 
twenty  minutes  after  five  minutes  of  feeding.  Under  very  similar 
conditions,  after  the  dog  had  been  enraged  by  the  presence  of  a 
cat  (painful  visual  stimuli)  the  stomach  secreted  only  9  c.c.  of  fluid 
in  twenty  minutes  after  five  minutes  of  feeding.  This  secretion 
was  rich  in  mucus.  They  also  observed  that  when  the  stomach  of 
this  dog  was  secreting  at  its  usual  rate  in  order  to  digest  the  food, 
and  the  cat  was  then  brought  into  the  immediate  environment,  the 
stomach  only  secreted  a  few  drops  in  the  next  15  minutes  and  reac- 
tions unfavorable  to  digestion  continued  long  after  the  painful 
stimuli  were  removed. 

Oechsler  (4,  p.  13),  as  referred  to  by  Cannon,  reported  that 


40  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

the  secretion  of  the  gastric  juice,  the  secretion  of  the  pancreatic 
juice,  and  the  flow  of  bile,  may  be  definitely  checked  "in  such 
psychic  disturbances,"  that  is,  to  say  it  more  simply,  in  the  presence 
of  fear  or  hatred-producing  stimuli. 

Cannon  observed  (4,  p.  15),  by  means  of  the  Roentgen  rays,  in 
the  dog,  cat,  and  guinea  pig,  that  "very  mild  emotional  (fear,  rage) 
disturbances  are  attended  by  abolition  of  peristalsis."  "  Even  indi- 
cations of  slight  anxiety  (such  as  covering  the  cat's  nose  and 
mouth  until  a  slight  distress  of  breathing  is  produced)  may  be 
attended  by  complete  absence  of  the  churning  waves."  "  Like  the 
peristaltic  waves  of  the  stomach,  the  peristalsis  and  the  kneading 
movements  (segmentation)  in  the  small  intestine,  and  the  reversed 
peristalsis  in  the  large  intestine  all  cease  whenever  the  observed  ani- 
mal shows  signs  of  emotional  excitement" — that  is,  when  the  ani- 
mal is  exposed  to  potentially  harmful  stimuli  (4,  p.  16). 

Just  what  is  the  significance  of  the  seeming  cessation  of  the  vis- 
ceral digestive  functions?  Is  it  a  spastic  postural  tonus f  What  is 
the  nature  of  the  proprioceptive  reactions  (kinesthetic  sensations) 
which  are  aroused  by  the  viscera  going  into  a  spastic  form  of  pos- 
tural tonus?  Do  these  proprioceptive  sensations  constitute  the 
stream  of  feeling  or  "emotional  excitement"  that  one  becomes 
aware  of  at  that  time?  Is  the  striped  muscle  system  compelled  to 
act  by  the  peculiar  nature  of  the  postural  tonus  of  the  viscera,  in 
order  that  the  organism  may  acquire  such  stimuli  for  its  exterocep- 
tors  as  have  the  capacity  to  relieve  the  uncomfortable,  probably  spas- 
tic, condition  of  the  viscera  and  allow  them  to  resume  their  more 
fruitful,  pleasure-giving  digestive  functions?  It  is  obviously  bio- 
logically imperative  that  spastic  visceral  states  should  be  relieved. 
Spastic  visceral  and  skeletal  muscles  are  the  source  of  a  continuous 
afferent  proprioceptive  stream  and,  as  spastic  tensions  lose  the  ca- 
pacity to  adapt  to  new  needs,  they  are  generally  a  hindrance. 

"The  influences  unfavorable  to  digestion,  however,  are  stronger 
than  those  which  promote  it"  (4,  p.  12)  which  is  what  one  would 
expect  in  the  universal  struggle  for  life,  and  accounts  for  our  elab- 
orate defensive  compensatory  capacities. 

Restatement. — In  the  preceding  collection  of  observations  we 
have  seen  that  the  autonomic  secretory  and  motor  activities  react 
immediately  when  the  organism  (man,  dog,  cat,  etc.)  is  exposed  to 
compounded  stimuli  which  contain  a  potentially  painful  stimulus. 
The  autonomic  sensorimotor  apparatus  seems  to  go  into  a  peculiar 
form  of  (spastic)  postural  tonus  and  this  status  is  the  peripheral 
origin  of  a  stream  of  unpleasant  "  feeling." 


FUNCTIONAL  CONSIDERATIONS  OF  THE  THEORY  4 1 

Cannon's  belief  that  the  change  in  the  autonomic  apparatus 
rather  followed  "  emotional  excitement "  in  the  cerebrum  seems  to 
have  been  largely  influenced  by  the  impression  that,  since  different 
emotional  states  seemed  to  be  accompanied  by  apparently  similar 
visceral  disturbances  a  difference  in  physiological  function  must 
occur  somewhere  when  different  emotions  are  observed,  hence  in 
the  cerebrum  because  of  Sherrington's  findings  in  the  spinal  dog. 

It  is  necessary,  because  of  this  belief,  to  review  the  cases  of 
anxiety,  the  one  of  supposed  joy,  and  the  case  of  supposed  disgust 
referred  to  by  Cannon  and  two  of  my  cases  of  vomiting,  in  order 
to  show  that  in  each  case  pain  stimuli  and  fear  reactions  occurred 
first.  (Cannon's  interpretation  of  the  psychology  of  these  cases  is 
not  satisfactory,  because  he  does  not  seem  to  consider  that  visual, 
olfactory  and  auditory  stimuli  may  be  as  painful  as  sciatic  pain 
stimuli,  and  he  does  not  consider  the  conditioned  reflex.) 

Cannon  reports  the  case  (4,  p.  17)  of  a  "refined  and  sensitive 
woman "  who  had  "  digestive  difficulties."  She  was  given  a  test 
breakfast  and  the  examination  of  the  stomach  contents  revealed 
no  free  acid,  no  digestion  of  the  test  breakfast,  and  the  presence  of 
a  considerable  amount  of  the  supper  of  the  previous  evening. 
Her  husband  had  the  night  previous  to  the  test  breakfast  become 
uncontrollably  drunk  (an  expression  of  semi-suppressed  hatred 
for  his  wife).  An  uncontrollably  drunk  husband  should  normally 
cause  anxiety  and  temporary  indigestion  for  any  woman  if  she  is 
normal.  We  need  not  assume  undue  sensitiveness.  Here  was 
a  definite  vigorous  fear  stimulus  (of  social  degradation)  and  com- 
pensatory anger  reactions  but  probably  suppressed  because  the  pain- 
ful experience  occurred  among  strangers  (hotel),  and  the  cause  of 
the  pain  was  inaccessible  to  punishment  in  his  "  uncontrollable " 
drunken  state.  The  second  morning,  after  a  "  good  rest,"  the  gastric 
functions  again  became  normal ;  the  husband  had  probably  resumed 
a  fairly  decent  attitude. 

Cannon  maintains  that  the  digestive  functions  are  also  affected 
by  emotions  (4,  p.  277)  "  which  are  usually  mild — such  as  joy  and 
sorrow  and  disgust — when  they  become  sufficiently  intense"  and 
"the  normal  course  of  digestion  may  be  stopped  or  quite  reversed 
in  a  variety  of  these  emotional  states."  This  view  seems  to  be 
based  on  a  case  of  vomiting  following  supposed  "  intense  joy  "  re- 
ported by  Darwin,  and  Miiller's  case  of  "  intense  sorrow,"  and  a 
case  of  "intense  disgust"  reported  by  Burton. 

The  case  of  supposedly  intense  joy  was  taken  by  Darwin  (14, 


42  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

p.  76)  from  the  Medical  Mirror  of  1865  reported  by  Dr.  J.  Crichton 
Browne.  How  probably  accurate  and  personal  Dr.  Brown's  obser- 
vations were,  must  be  kept  in  mind  for  the  sake  of  the  scientific 
problem  involved.  It  is  given  here  in  full :  "  How  powerfully  in- 
tense joy  excites  the  brain,  and  how  the  brain  reacts  on  the  body, 
is  well  shown  in  rare  cases  of  Psychical  Intoxication  " — "  A  young 
man  of  strongly  nervous  temperament,  who,  on  hearing  by  a  tele- 
gram that  a  fortune  had  been  bequeathed  him,  first  became  pale, 
then  exhilarated,  and  soon  in  the  highest  spirits,  but  flushed  and  very 
restless.  He  then  took  a  walk  with  a  friend  for  the  sake  of  tran- 
quilizing  himself,  but  returned  staggering  in  his  gate,  uproariously 
laughing,  yet  irritable  in  temper,  incessantly  talking,  and  singing 
loudly  in  the  public  streets.  It  is  positively  ascertained  he  had  not 
touched  any  spirituous  liquors,  though  everyone  thought  that  he 
was  intoxicated.  Vomiting  after  a  time  came  on,  and  the  half 
digested  contents  of  his  stomach  were  examined,  but  no  odor  of 
alcohol  could  be  detected.  He  then  slept  heavily,  and  on  awak- 
ening was  well,  except  that  he  suffered  from  headache,  nausea 
and  prostration  of  strength."  (Italics  mine.)  This  description  of 
human  behavior  confuses  one  with  a  queer  use  of  opposites  and 
makes  the  case  have  doubtful  value,  except  that  a  young  man  of 
"strongly  nervous  temperament,"  upon  learning  that  he  had  been 
bequeathed  a  fortune,  was  plunged  into  a  brief  intense  psychosis. 
It  is  noted  that  he  was  "  irritable  "  in  temper,  of  "  strongly  nerv- 
ous temperament,"  a  polite  term  for  an  irritable  temperament, 
and  that  he  first  turned  pale  when  he  was  informed  of  his  inherit- 
ance. This  case  cannot  be  safely  accepted  as  a  pure  case  of  intense 
joy  because  the  young  man  gave  strong  indications  of  first  reacting 
with  acute  fear  (paleness).  This  could  only  have  been  safely  de- 
termined by  a  psychoanalysis,  because  the  inefficiency  of  auto-eroti- 
cism, anal-eroticism,  inability  to  handle  the  fortune,  and  being  re- 
minded of  old  homicidal  wishes  suggest  themselves  as  possible  reac- 
tions in  this  psychopathic  personality.  Then  followed  the  compen- 
satory mixed  reaction  of  joy  and  anger.  So  in  this  turmoil  of  fear, 
joy,  anger,  and  possibly  love  (successful  wooing  often  depends  on 
money)  this  psychopath  was  swept  off  his  feet,  and  after  excessive 
pychomotor  activity  with  marked  incoordinations  of  incessant  talk- 
ing, singing,  irritabilty  and  weakness,  he  vomited,  slept  heavily,  and 
awakened  "well,"  but  suffering  from  headache,  nausea  and  weak- 
ness. This  case  reminds  one  of  an  epileptic  seizure  initiated  by  a 
fear  reaction. 

Cannon  (4,  p.  278)  gives  his  impression  of  this  observation  as 


FUNCTIONAL  CONSIDERATIONS  OF  THE  THEORY  43 

"a  case  of  a  young  man  who  on  hearing  that  a  fortune  had  been 
left  him,  became  pale,  then  exhilarated,  and  after  various  expres- 
sions of  joyous  feeling  vomited  the  half  digested  contents  of  his 
stomach,"  and  bases  on  this  case  his  argument  that  intense  joy  can 
cause  gastric  changes  similar  to  other  affective  disturbances. 

The  case  of  sorrow  referred  to  by  Cannon  (4,  p.  278)  was  a 
"young  woman  whose  lover  had  broken  the  engagement  of  mar- 
riage. She  wept  in  bitter  sorrow  for  several  days,  and  during  this 
time  vomited  whatever  food  she  took."  Whatever  this  girl  sacri- 
ficed or  lost  by  the  breaking  of  her  engagement  is  undetermined  but 
obviously  pain  and  also  fear  of  never  again  having  her  love-object 
caused  the  behavior  reactions  of  "  sorrow  "  and  a  definite  relation 
existed  in  this  case  of  vomiting  to  pain  and  fear. 

The  case  of  disgust  and  vomiting  (4,  p.  278)  is  given  as  follows : 
''A  gentle  woman  of  the  same  city  saw  a  fat  hog  cut  up,  when  the 
entrails  were  opened,  and  a  noisome  savour  offended  her  nose,  she 
much  misliked  and  would  not  longer  abide ;  a  physician  in  presence 
told  her,  as  that  hog,  so  was  she,  full  of  filthy  excrements,  and  ag- 
gravated the  matter  by  some  other  loathsome  incidents,  insomuch 
this  nice  gentle  woman  apprehended  it  so  deeply  she  fell  forthwith 
a  vomiting,  was  so  mightily  distempered  in  mind  and  body,  that  with 
all  his  art  and  persuasion,  for  some  months  after,  he  could  not  re- 
store her  to  herself  again,  she  could  not  forget  or  remove  the  object 
out  of  her  sight."  (ItaHcs  and  capitals  mine.)  This  case  cannot 
be  safely  accepted  as  a  case  of  intense  disgust  causing  vomiting, 
because  of  the  probability  that  the  ignorant  but  overly  refined,  gentle 
woman  was  made  extremely  apprehensive  when  she  was  reminded 
of  her  offensive  interior  by  an  aggravating  physician  who  delighted 
in  telling  refined  people  that  they  had  filthy  interiors,  and  some  other 
things  too  indecent  to  print.  The  filthy  interior  readily  suggests 
the  filthy  soul  to  people  who  are  obsessed  with  trying  to  escape  the 
wickedness  of  the  flesh,  and  repress  their  emotions  in  order  to 
appear  refined.  It  is  at  least  safe  to  regard  the  physician's  sugges- 
tions as  painful  stimuli  causing  fear  reactions  which  were  perhaps 
complicated  with  reactions  of  disgust  or  aversion  aroused  by  the 
odors.  Besides,  judging  from  the  later  apologetic  attitude  of  the 
physician,  strong  feelings  of  anger  for  the  offense  also  complicated 
this  woman's  reactions. 

Because  of  the  apparent  similarity  of  the  crude  (shadow)  ob- 
servations through  the  fluoroscope  and  the  more  accurate  gastric 
analysis  Cannon  concludes  that  there  are  "  no  noteworthy "  dif- 
ferences to  "visceral  accompaniments  of  fear  and  rage."     (Pain- 


44  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

ful  Stimuli  and  fear  reactions,  it  will  be  shown,  always  precede  the 
compensatory  reactions  of  rage — see  discussion  of  fear  and  rage.) 

Cannon  says  (4,  p.  277)  :  "  Obvious  vascular  differences,  as 
pallor  or  flushing  of  the  face,  are  of  httle  significance.  With  in- 
crease of  blood  pressure  from  vasoconstriction,  pallor  might  result 
from  action  of  the  constrictors  in  the  face,  or  flushing  might  result 
because  the  constrictors  elsewhere,  as,  for  example,  in  the  abdomen, 
raised  the  pressure  so  high  that  facial  constrictors  are  overcome  .  .  , 
or  the  flushing  may  occur  from  local  vasodilation."  This  inference 
about  the  variation  of  facial  vasodilation  seems  to  be  a  mechanical 
guess  and  is  not  a  sound  point  in  his  contribution. 

One  can  readily  understand  why  those  who  feel  that  such 
vascular  diflferences  as  pallor  or  flushing  of  the  face  are  of  little 
significance,  are  not  likely  to  be  impressed  by  their  own  subjective 
experiences  or  James's  theory  of  the  emotions,  because  the  very  foun- 
dation of  the  theory  is  that  the  secretory  or  motor  changes,  wherever 
or  however  they  occur,  cause  characteristic  sensory  disturbances. 
(The  principle  that  the  nature  and  location  of  the  peripheral  changes 
determine  the  nature  of  our  feelings  is  similar,  physiologically,  to 
the  conviction  universally  held  that  the  area  of  an  inflammation  or 
injury  is  the  origin  and  cause  of  the  sensation  of  pain.)  Intra  vesicu- 
lar pressure  does  not  cause  a  desire  or  feeling  until  the  pressure  is 
over  18  cm.  of  water  which  indicates  the  delicacy  of  the  peripheral 
adjustment  necessary  to  produce  an  affective  change.  Hence  it  is 
readily  conceivable  that  slight  variations  in  postural  visceral  ten- 
sions, which  are  not  observable  to  the  fluoroscope  or  eye,  may  cause 
critical  affective  disturbances. 

Further  evidence  that  the  functional  tensions  of  the  viscera  de- 
termine the  affective  status  of  the  individual  is  found  in  the  af- 
fective influence  of  cold,  fever,  exhaustion,  and  exogenous  intoxica- 
tions. Cannon  (4,  p.  262)  states  that  "in  fever,  when  bodily  ma- 
terial is  being  most  rapidly  used,  hunger  is  absent.  Its  absence  is 
understood  from  an  observation  made  by  F.  T.  Murphy  and  my- 
self, that  infection,  with  systemic  involvement,  is  accompanied  by 
a  total  cessation  of  all  movements  of  the  alimentary  canal.  Boldi- 
reif  observed  that  when  his  dogs  were  fatigued  the  rhythmic  con- 
tractions failed  to  appear.  Being  *  too  tired  to  eat '  is  thereby  given 
rational  explanation." 

This  is  also  true  for  the  more  delicate  aflFective  reactions.  When 
we  are  fatigued  or  have  systemic  involvements  with  fever  our  ac- 
quisitive interests  and  defensive  or  resistive  capacities  are  decidedly 


FUNCTIONAL  CONSIDERATIONS  OF  THE  THEORY  45 

reduced.  We  may  be  "too  tired,"  or  "too  sick"  to  enjoy  music, 
art,  companions,  parties,  day-dreams,  current  events,  or  withstand 
a  shock,  etc.  Neither  are  we  then  able  to  readjust  the  primary  af- 
fective disturbances  of  fear,  anger,  shame  and  grief.  If  aroused 
they  tend  to  continue  unduly,  indicating  an  inability  of  the  autonomic 
apparatus  to  make  compensatory  readjustments  so  readily  as  in 
health.  I  reported  a  case  (15)  of  nausea  and  vomiting  in  a  young 
woman  due  to  repressed  hatred  and  fear  following  a  series  of  con- 
flicts with  her  mother-in-law.  This  psychoneurosis  persisted  for 
more  than  a  year  and  reversed  (nauseating)  peristalsis  was  quickly 
aroused  by  red  fruits  and  vegetables.  Also  an  instance  of  vomiting 
in  a  physician,  who,  while  fishing  soon  after  breakfast,  was  excited 
by  hooking  a  fish  and  vomited  after  it  escaped,  which  was  probably 
the  result  of  inability  to  protect  himself  from  the  fear  of  losing  the 
fish,  by  catching  it  (52,  p.  450).  Everyone  is  familiar  with  the  feel- 
ing of  nausea  that  precedes  abdominal  retching  and  vomiting  and 
the  nausea  and  disgust,  with  sensations  of  gastric  movements,  in- 
dicating a  reversion  of  peristalsis.  Children,  to  express  disgust, 
will  hawk,  make  emissive  movements  and  even  make  vomiting  move- 
ments, indicating  that  visceral  disturbances  have  already  occurred 
which  gave  sensations  suggesting  the  vomiting  movements.  Many 
people  can  testify  to  a  disappearance  of  all  affective  interests  when 
seasick,  during  which  time  the  digestive  system  is  inclined  to  make 
persistent,  energetic  emissive  movements.  Cannon  remarks  that  loy- 
alty disappears  in  the  face  of  excessive  hunger.  So  may  love, 
shame,  fear,  etc.,  indicating  that  too  vigorous  hunger  functions  of 
the  stomach,  when  once  established,  do  not  permit  the  less  strong 
affective  functions  to  come  into  play.  Among  college  athletes  I 
have  heard  used  the  phrase  "he  lost  his  guts,"  to  mean  that  the 
athlete  was  a  weak  contender  because  he  suffered  from  diarrhea 
(excessive  emissive  peristalsis) — due  to  fear  of  losing  and  inability 
to  compensate. 

When  we  have  an  acute  "  sickening  pain  "  we  do  not  feel  affec- 
tionate at  the  same  time,  and  when  the  sickening  pain  is  felt  it  is 
known  that  marked  visceral  disturbances  occur.  We  are  all  fa- 
miliar with  the  severe  digestive  disturbances,  lowered  resistance  and 
distressing  visceral  sensations  that  are  caused  by  the  loss  of  a  love- 
object  and  the  vigorous  appetites  and  splendid  digestive  powers  that 
are  established  when  we  have  firmly  acquired  the  love-object.  It 
requires  little  imagination  to  apply  the  physiological  principle  of 
failure  to  compensate  to  so-called  cases  of  "  shell  shock." 


46  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

Pain-  and  Pleasure-Giving  Stimuli  of  Distance  Receptors 

The  prominence  of  the  painful  stimulus  and  the  primary  fear 
reaction,  which  precedes  the  avertive  adjustments,  must  necessarily, 
from  the  nature  of  the  proHlem,  be  studied  as  a  physiological  phe- 
nomenon and  then  its  psychological  or  behavioristic  significance 
reviewed.  In  order  that  the  similarity  may  be  recognized  the 
physiological  disturbances  that  accompany  painful  physical  injuries, 
such  as  crushing  a  nerve  or  tearing  flesh,  should  be  compared  to  cer- 
tain painful  visual  or  auditory  stimuli.  It  is  perhaps  necessary  to 
show  that  visual,  auditory  and  gustatory  stimuli  may  produce  auto- 
nomic (physiological)  effects  which  are  similar  to  the  effects  of 
physical  injuries, 

A  personal  experience,  while  sitting  near  the  side  of  an  open 
street  car  absorbed  in  a  problem,  confirmed  this  impression  for  me. 
Just  as  we  passed  some  workmen,  who  were  loading  boards  on  a 
wagon,  they  let  a  heavy  board  fall  flat.  It  made  a  sharp,  loud  bang 
near  my  head.  My  first  clear  recognition  of  the  presence  of  the 
wagon  followed  the  bang.  The  strong,  sharp  percussion  of  my 
ear  drum  did  not  cause  pain  there,  but  the  instantaneous  violence 
with  which  my  diaphragm  (?)  "jumped"  and  (probably)  stomach 
and  intestines  reacted  was  painful  and,  even  before  I  fully  realized 
what  had  occurred,  I  felt  a  rapid  defensive  compensation  of  anger 
sweep  over  me  as  a  marked  vasodilatation  in  both  arms,  chest,  neck, 
and  face  occurred,  and  then  I  became  aware  of  a  rapidly  develop- 
ing compulsive  feeling  to  speak  and  act  (remove  or  destroy  the 
cause) .  Fortunately,  before  overt  movements  got  under  way  an  af- 
fective compulsion  to  maintain  a  respectable  dignity  asserted  itself, 
and  instead  of  wasting  the  aggressive  energy  on  the  unsuspecting 
workmen  it  turned  on  the  opponents  of  the  James-Lange  theory  of 
the  emotions. 

While  preparing  these  observations  on  the  peripheral  origin  of 
the  emotions  a  trivial  experience  emphasized  the  peripheral  origin 
of  fear  and  the  compensatory  anger  reaction  which  followed.  I  had 
filled  a  metallic,  disc-shaped  hot-water  bottle  and  was  drying  it  with 
a  towel  when  suddenly  I  felt  it  slipping  rapidly  through  my  fingers. 
The  hand  was  reflexly  tightened  on  the  slipping  object  but  also  the 
body  and  leg  muscles  had  reflexly  started  to  contract  in  order  to  pull 
the  frame  down  toward  the  floor  so  as  to  enable  me  to  get  beneath 
and  catch  the  bottle  that  had  started  to  fall.  This  all  occurred  in  an 
instant  and  is  of  course  related  by  retrospection,  but  the  sequence  of 
events  were  promptly  and  accurately  noted,  being  a  valuable  obser- 
vation because  of  its  entirely  spontaneous  nature.     The  hand  that 


FUNCTIONAL  CONSIDERATIONS  OF  THE  THEORY  47 

had  been  holding  the  bottle  in  a  light  postural  grip  succeeded  in 
resuming  its  grasp  on  it  and  the  other  bodily  movements,  particularly 
that  of  getting  into  a  crouching  position,  automatically  became  ex- 
cessive and  were  abruptly  stopped  when  only  about  one  third  started. 
The  abrupt  stopping  of  the  general  flexion  of  the  legs  by  a  general 
abrupt  counter-extension  produced  a  brief  but  intense  tingling  of  the 
muscles  of  the  legs  and  thighs.  This  was  decidedly  unpleasant, 
causing  a  very  disagreeable  tingling  of  the  muscles,  and  might  be 
described  as  startling.  The  abrupt  onset  of  the  falling  of  the  object 
itself  caused  no  disagreeable  feelings,  but  the  abrupt  stopping  of 
the  sudden,  tense  contractions  was  very  disagreeable,  and  belonged 
to  the  pain-fear  type. 

Within  a  few  seconds  I  felt  a  decided  reaction  of  anger  at  the 
bottle  and  then  at  my  carelessness.  This  incident,  as  a  spontaneous 
phenomenon,  illustrates  the  sequence  of  the  peripheral  origin  of  the 
startling,  tingling  pain  and  compensatory  anger  and  is  worthy  of 
consideration. 

A  thirteen  weeks'  old  puppy  was  cautiously  making  his  first  in- 
spection of  the  snarling  head  of  a  bear  rug  when  I  made  the  fol- 
lowing observation.  He  was  gradually  compensating  for  his  vig- 
orous fear  (avertive)  reactions  which  had  instantly  started  when  he 
first  saw  the  head.  After  many  distant,  encircling  inspections  be- 
hind chairs,  etc.,  he  gradually  advanced  first  behind  the  head  and 
smelled  an  extended  hind  paw,  and  then  cautiously  walked  up  the  leg 
with  every  receptor  wide  open  for  dangerous  stimuli.  Finally  he 
worked  around  in  front  of  the  bear,  pushing  his  head  (the  distance 
receptors,  eyes,  ears,  and  nose  with  the  defensive  teeth)  up  first 
and  keeping  the  remainder  of  the  body  extended  as  far  back  as  pos- 
sible. When  I  was  sure  he  could  not  see  me  I  made  a  sharp  sound 
with  my  foot.  The  sudden  auditory  percussion  precipitated  a  panicy 
scramble  across  the  floor  away  from  the  bear.  A  minute  or  so  later 
a  curious  interest  urged  him  to  return.  Some  obscure  affective  crav- 
ing was  urging  him.  Finally  he  reached  the  head,  touched  noses, 
licked  each  eye,  smelled  in  each  ear,  inspected  the  open  mouth,  licked 
the  nose  and  then  mounted  the  head  and  began  copulation  move- 
ments. When  hunger,  fatigue  and  fear  are  absent  sexual  functions 
come  to  the  foreground  in  the  infra-human  primates  and  man. 

It  is  well  known  that  all  young  animals,  including  infants,  may 
be  terrified  by  staring,  fierce-looking  eyes  and  deep,  guttural  sounds. 
Mothers  use  soft,  purring  sounds  and  brief  glances  to  keep  the 
young  comfortable.    All  animals  use  harsh  sounds  and  staring  to 

5 


48  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

intimidate  enemies.  Selous  in  his  African  Nature  Notes,  reports 
that  his  Kafirs  said  "  their  hearts  died  "  when  the  lions  roared  near 
them. 

The  yelping  wolf  pack,  barking  terriers  and  the  profane,  irate 
bully  tend  to  paralyze  their  victims  with  auditory  percussions  before 
they  make  their  assault  with  teeth  and  paws.  The  cheering  of  loyal 
friends  in  athletic  competitions,  in  theatricals  and  of  soldiers  on 
parade  and  in  battle  has  an  energizing  eflfect. 

The  purely  visual  stimulus  may  cause  extremely  painful  feelings 
and  terror.  If  one  walks  through  a  field  or  woods  in  a  dusky  light 
with  the  mind  engrossed  and  suddenly  sees  a  coiled  object  lying  on 
the  ground  under  one's  feet,  painful  visceral  reactions  are  felt  and 
fright  occurs  even  before  one  recognizes  that  the  object  is  or  is  not 
a  snake.  The  mere  contours  of  the  object  start  autonomic  reflex  ac- 
tivities even  before  the  perception  of  the  object  is  completed.  I 
well  remember  an  experience  when  walking  across  a  freshly  plowed 
field.  As  my  foot  was  descending  in  the  stride  a  partly  coiled 
"  something  "  caught  my  eye,  lying  very  near  the  place  the  foot  was 
to  touch  the  ground.  Instantly  the  leg  supporting  the  body  reflexly 
projected  it  onward  and  the  foot,  which  had  descended  too  far  to 
be  retracted,  extended  out  of  danger  by  a  movement  which  started 
as  a  step  but  terminated  in  a  leap.  Painful  visceral  fear  reactions 
seem  to  have  started,  before  the  perception  of  "snake"  was  formed. 
The  conviction  of  "  snake "  did  not  occur  until  I  turned  around. 
The  autonomic  reflex  activities  are  quicker  than  perception  and  prob- 
ably the  existence  of  many  people  depends  upon  this  accomplishment 
of  nature,  not  trusting  the  responsibilities  of  life  to  perception. 

Naturally  the  arm-chair  psychologist,  who  studies  out  a  hypo- 
thetical case  and  visualizes  the  snake  in  the  grass  and  then  imagines 
what  will  happen,  will  naturally  put  perception  first  and  visceral  ac- 
tivities and  emotion  second;  which  is  quite  true  for  the  fantasy  be- 
cause he  has  to  visualize  the  snake  image  first  to  start  the  experi- 
ment going.  When  the  exogenous  stimulus  is  forced  upon  the  ex- 
teroceptor  quite  a  different  process  occurs. 

To  return  to  the  hypothetical  snake  in  the  grass.  If  it  is  small, 
say  a  foot  long,  the  compensatory  reactions  of  anger  to  destroy  the 
painful  stimulus  quickly  follow  the  unpleasant  surprise  and  perhaps 
the  impulse  will  be  to  stamp  the  head  of  the  snake.  Let  us  magnify 
the  snake,  increasing  its  potency  and  reducing  our  proportion  of 
power  by  being  surprised  by  a  snake  four  feet  long.  If  compen- 
satory anger  reactions  occurred,  an  effort  to  destroy  the  snake  might 


FUNCTIONAL  CONSIDERATIONS  OF  THE  THEORY  49 

be  made,  provided  the  individual  could  realize  a  comfortable  margin 
of  power  by  seizing  a  long,  strong  club.  If  no  weapon  was  to  be- 
had  the  fear  reactions  would  remove  the  individual  and  the  aggres- 
sive anger  compensation  would  have  to  get  an  outlet  through  fancies 
of  what  he  would  have  done  had  a  real  club  been  found.  Let  us 
magnify  the  snake  to  eighteen  feet  in  length,  the  painfulness  of 
the  visceral  reactions  and  terror  may  be  sufficient  to  paralyze  one, 
if  his  physical  condition  at  the  time  is  not  rugged,  and  at  best,  the 
painful  affective  reaction  of  fear  would  only  produce  prompt  efforts 
to  remove  the  receptors  from  the  stimulus.  Anger  would  only 
follow  after  a  sufficient  margin  of  safety  was  acquired.  As  this 
marginal  feeling  of  safeness  and  power  increased  fancies  about  de- 
stroying the  snake  might  be  succeeded  by  efforts  to  actually  accom- 
plish the  destruction  of  the  snake  or  its  capture,  which  would  also 
be  destruction  of  its  potential  dangerousness. 

The  compensatory  reaction  of  anger  or  rage  only  follows  a 
pain  stimulus  and  primary  fear  reactions.  It  is  not  necessary  to 
expect,  for  the  peripheral  theory  of  the  emotions,  that  immediately 
a  marked  difference  in  the  metabolic  adjustment  of  the  organism  or 
in  the  autonomic  postural  reactions  should  be  recognizable  upon 
crude  observation  of  the  fear  and  rage  because  rage  is  so  quickly 
and  intimately  associated  with  fear  that  its  onset  would  escape  the 
observer  and  no  difference  in  the  physiological  function  would  be 
noted.  The  later  autonomic  reactions  should  show  at  least  a  marked 
difference  in  the  postural  tonus  of  the  viscera  and  extensor  muscles, 
and  in  the  regions  of  vasodilation  if  a  protective  compensation  oc- 
curred. Such  phenomena  could  hardly  be  seen  in  the  shadows  of 
the  fluoroscope,  but  are  quite  easily  differentiated  by  a  frank  intro- 
spection of  one's  spontaneous  affective  reactions. 

Some  olfactory  stimuli,  it  is  well  known,  cause  strong  emissive, 
gagging  and  retching  movements  with  feelings  of  nausea  and  disgust 
which  under  certain  conditions  might  be  fearful  ordeals.  Some  dogs 
and  horses  become  panic-stricken  when  they  inhale  odors  of  bears, 
elephants,  lions,  etc.  Like  the  moose  and  deer,  they  do  not  have 
fear  reactions  upon  seeing  some  animals,  including  man,  but  bolt 
in  a  panic  when  they  receive  the  obnoxious  odor. 

Wertheimer,  cited  by  Cannon  (4,  p.  18),  showed  that,  in  an 
anesthetized  animal  the  stimulation  of  a  nerve,  that  would  produce 
pain  in  a  conscious  animal,  quickly  abolished  the  contractions  of  the 
stomach  (which  is  very  similar  to  the  fear  reaction).  This  indi- 
cates that  the  higher  central  functions  (perceptive)  are  not  neces- 
sary  to   start   characteristic   autonomic   disturbances    for   contact. 


50  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

noxious  stimuli.  (The  notion  that  the  emotion  of  fear  must  be 
felt  centrally  first  and  that  it  then  causes  the  peripheral  disturb- 
ance is  further  shaken  by  such  data. )  The  above  experiments  indi- 
cate that  the  higher  central  association  tracts  are  necessary  to  enable 
the  organism  as  a  whole  to  become  aware  of,  or  react  to,  the  un- 
pleasant (nauseating)  feelings  caused  by  the  visceral  disturbance 
from  the  pain  stimulus. 

This  interpretation  is  further  substantiated  by  Netschaiev,  cited 
by  Cannon  (4,  p.  19).  He  "showed  that  excitation  of  the  sensory 
fibers  in  the  sciatic  nerve  for  two  or  three  minutes  resulted  in  an 
inhibition  of  the  secretion  of  gastric  juice  that  lasted  for  several 
hours."  Nausea,  vomiting  (reversed  gastric  peristalsis  of  varying 
intensity)  is  well  known  to  follow  painful  accidents  as  well  as  fear- 
ful visual,  auditory,  and  olfactory  stimuli. 

It  may  be  well  to  present  here  further  data  to  show  that,  although 
ostensibly  the  body  is  not  injured  by  a  visual  stimulus,  it  may  ac- 
tually be  seriously  disturbed,  not  only  in  its  digestive  secretory  and 
motor  functions,  but  also  in  its  metabolic  functions  and  that  the 
reactions  are  so  similar  in  their  nature  that  it  would  not  be  possible 
to  distinguish,  from  them  alone,  whether  the  causes  were  painful 
visual,  auditory,  olfactory,  or  physically  destructive  stimuli. 

Cannon  (4,  p.  44-66)  demonstrated  that  when  blood  was  re- 
moved through  a  properly  prepared  catheter  from  the  inferior  vena 
cava  just  above  the  entrance  of  the  renal  veins,  from  a  qiciet,  normal 
cat,  the  blood  did  not  cause  a  relaxation  of  a  test  muscle ;  whereas, 
when  the  blood  was  removed  after  the  cat  was  frightened  or  en- 
raged by  a  barking  dog  (visual,  auditory,  olfactory  (  ?)  stimuli)  it 
caused  a  relaxation  of  the  test  muscle.  If  the  adrenal  vessels  are 
tied  off  and  then  fear  reactions  are  produced  in  the  cat,  the  blood 
does  not  cause  relaxation  of  the  muscles. 

Similar  relaxations  of  the  test  muscle  can  also  be  caused  by 
adrenalin  solutions  of  i :  1,000,000  (4,  p.  58).  Artificial  stimulation 
of  the  nerves  leading  to  the  adrenals  causes  an  increase  in  their 
secretions  (4,  p.  43). 

These  observations  lead  to  the  conclusion  (4,  p.  62)  that  the 
adrenal  glands  are  reflexly  activated  and  pour  into  the  bloodstream 
an  increased  amount  of  adrenin  when  the  organism  is  exposed  to  a 
painful  stimulus,  whether  actually  destructive,  or  visual,  auditory 
or  olfactory.  When  the  sensory  nerves  (4,  p.  45-46)  in  and  about 
the  femoral  vein  were  made  anesthetic  with  ethyl  chloride,  the  cat 
remained  tranquil  and  an  increase  of  adrenin  was  not  found  in  the 
blood.     Wertheimer  (4,  p.  18)  in  a  previously  cited  experiment  on 


FUNCTIONAL  CONSIDERATIONS  OF  THE  THEORY  5 1 

the  anesthetized,  unconscious  animal,  found  the  gastric  functions 
were  inhibited  upon  the  stimulation  of  a  sensary  nerve  such  as  would 
cause  pain  in  a  conscious  animal.  These  observations  indicate  the 
importance  of  the  afferent  neurone  and  its  almost  direct  effect  upon 
the  autonomic  system.  The  influence  of  consciousness,  or  the  higher 
cerebral  tracts,  is  not  necessary  for  autonomic  reactions,  of  the  fear- 
producing  type,  from  contact  stimuli.  This  mechanism  surely  has 
an  enormous  protective  value  during  sleep  and  emphasizes  the  im- 
portance of  autonomic  priority  of  reaction  to  stimuli  with  or  with- 
out the  animal  being  conscious ;  hence,  with  or  without  the  addition 
of  perception. 

The  effect  of  the  painful  or  unsatisfactory  stimulus  and  the 
primary  fear  reaction  have  also  been  shown  to  cause  extremely  im- 
portant metabolic  changes.  (Unfortunately  the  physiologists  have 
used  the  clumsy,  complicated  term  "  emotional  excitement "  in  these 
experiments  which,  however,  doubtless  refers  to  compensatory 
affective  striving  following  a  situation  that  aroused  an  acute  fear 
of  failure  to  avoid  a  painful  defeat  or  to  retain  a  love-object.) 

In  his  study  of  the  causes  of  glycosuria.  Cannon  concluded  that 
(4,  p.  72)  "  the  promptness  with  which  glycosuria  developed  was 
directly  related  to  the  emotional  state  of  the  animal.  Sugar  was 
found  early  in  animals  which  early  showed  signs  of  being  fright- 
ened or  in  a  rage,  and  much  later  in  animals  which  took  the  ex- 
perience more  calmly ; "  and  also  an  increase  of  glycogen  was  found 
in  students  after  being  excited  by  a  football  game  and  after  exam- 
inations (fear  of  failure)  (4,  p.  75-76). 

Hence  he  concluded  that  just  as  in  the  cat,  dog,  and  rabbit,  so 
also  in  man,  "emotional  excitement"  produces  temporary  increase 
of  blood  sugar. 

Macleod,  as  cited  by  Cannon  (4,  p.  198),  "found  that  if  the 
nerve  fibers  to  the  liver  were  destroyed,  stimulation  of  the  splanch- 
nic .  .  .  did  not  increase  the  blood  sugar.  The  increorsed  blood  sugar 
due  to  splanchnic  stimulation,  therefore,  is  a  nervous  effect,  de- 
pendent, to  be  sure,  on  the  presence  of  adrenin  in  the  blood,  but  the 
amount  of  adrenin  present  is  not  in  itself  capable  of  evoking  in- 
crease." (Italics  mine.)  Again,  as  Macleod  has  shown,  a  rise  in 
the  sugar  content  of  the  blood  can  be  induced,  if  the  adrenals  are 
intact,  merely  by  stimulating  the  nerves  going  to  the  liver.  The 
increased  blood  sugar  of  splanchnic  origin,  therefore,  is  not  due  to 
a  disturbance  of  the  use  of  sugar  in  the  body — but  is  a  result  of  a 
breaking  down  of  the  stored  glycogen  in  the  liver  and  is  of  nervous 
origin. 

This  "nervous  origin"  may  be  a  painful  stimulus  or  "a  result 


52  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

of  excitement"  (4,  p.  200)  which,  however,  to  simplify  the  term 
"excitement,"  has  its  origin  in  fear  of  failure,  a  form  of  painful 
reaction. 

Relative  to  the  coagulation  time  of  blood.  Cannon  (4,  p.  182) 
concludes :  "  Such  stimulation  as  in  the  unanesthetized  animal  would 
cause  pain,  and  also  such  emotion  as  fear  and  rage,  are  capable  of 
greatly  shortening  the  coagulation  time  of  blood.  These  results 
are  quite  in  harmony  with  the  evidence  previously  offered  that  in- 
jected adrenin  and  secretion  from  the  adrenal  glands  induced  by 
splanchnic  stimulation  hasten  clotting,  for  painful  stimulation  and 
emotional  excitement  (fear  of  failure)  also  evoke  activity  of  the 
adrenals."     (Parenthesis  and  italics  mine.) 

As  to  the  distribution  of  the  blood  supply,  Cannon  says:  "At 
times  of  pain  and  excitement  sympathetic  discharges,  probably  aided 
by  the  adrenal  secretion  simultaneously  liberated,  will  drive  the 
blood  out  of  the  vegetative  organs  of  the  interior,  which  serve  the 
routine  needs  of  the  body,  into  the  skeletal  muscles  which  have  to 
meet  by  extra  action  the  urgent  demands  of  struggle  or  escape" 
(4,  p.  108)  from  the  fear-producing  stimulus. 

As  to  fatigability  of  muscle,  adrenin  (besides  influencing  the 
constitution  and  distribution  of  the  blood)  also  has  the  action  "of 
restoring  to  a  muscle  its  original  ability  to  respond  to  stimulation, 
after  that  has  been  largely  lost  by  continued  activity  through  a  long 
period.  What  rest  will  do  after  an  hour  or  more  adrenin  will  do 
in  five  minutes  or  less"  (Cannon,  4,  p.  133). 

In  his  experiments  on  the  fatigability  of  muscle  he  found  also 
that  (4,  p.  102)  "  the  increased  general  blood  pressure  was  effective, 
quite  apart  from  any  possible  action  of  adrenal  secretion,  in  largely 
restoring  to  the  fatigued  structures  their  normal  irritability." 

In  their  studies  of  visceral  volume  changes,  Oliver  and  Schafer 
(4,  p.  200)  "  showed  that  injected  adrenin  drove  the  blood  from 
the  abdominal  viscera  into  the  organs  called  upon  in  emergencies — 
into  the  central  nervous  system,  the  lungs,  the  heart,  and  the  active 
skeletal  muscles.  The  absence  of  effective  vasoconstrictor  nerves  in 
the  brain  and  the  lungs,  and  dilation  of  vessels  in  the  heart  and 
skeletal  muscles  during  times  of  increased  activity,  make  the  blood 
supply  to  these  parts  dependent  on  the  height  of  general  arterial 
pressure.  In  pain  and  great  excitement  (fear)  .  .  .  this  pressure 
is  likely  to  be  much  elevated,  and  consequently  the  blood-flow 
through  the  unconstricted  or  actually  dilated  vessels  of  the  body 
will  be  all  the  more  abundant."     (Italics  and  parenthesis  mine.) 

As  to  rate  and  amplitude  of  heart  beat  Cannon  (4,  p.  202),  bas- 


FUNCTIONAL  CONSIDERATIONS  OF  THE  THEORY  53 

ing  his  conclusions  largely  on  the  work  of  Hoskins  and  Lovellette, 
believes  that  adrenin,  as  secreted  by  the  gland,  increases  it. 

"  Adrenin  injected  into  the  blood  stream  has  as  one  of  its  pre- 
cise actions  the  dilating  of  the  bronchioles"  (4,  p.  204).  The 
adrenin  from  the  adrenals  goes  to  the  right  heart  first  and  then  to 
the  lungs,  so  the  first  effects  would  be  to  dilate  the  bronchioles  for 
the  easier  intake  of  air.  In  strenuous  exertion  "  pain  and  excite- 
ment" (fear)  the  intake  of  air  is  greatly  increased  by  an  increase 
in  the  volume  and  rapidity  of  breathing  which  are  essential  for  a 
plentiful  supply  of  oxygen  and  the  discharge  of  carbonaceous  waste 
in  the  time  of  struggle. 

By  testing  the  relaxing  eflfects  of  inferior  vena  cava  blood  upon 
intestinal  test  muscle  taken  just  above  the  inlet  of  the  blood  from 
the  adrenals  before  and  after  asphyxiation,  Cannon  (4,  p.  207)  dem- 
onstrated that  adrenin  was  secreted  during  states  of  asphyxiation, 
and  since  (CO2)  asphyxiation  is  the  result  of  strong  exertion,  per- 
haps following  pain,  fear  or  anger,  he  concluded  that  not  too  severe 
asphyxiation,  by  increasing  adrenin  secretion,  reenf  orced  the  animal's 
powers,  after  the  effects  of  the  emotional  reaction  had  disappeared. 
(Anger  may  follow  some  considerable  time  after  painful  fear.) 

To  summarise  the  significance  of  the  above  series  of  conclusions 
by  Cannon,  Crile  and  others:  Any  form  of  potentially  harmful 
stimulus,  whether  it  stimulates  the  visual,  auditory,  olfactory,  gus- 
tatory, cutaneous,  or  the  entero-,  or  prioprio-receptor  fields,  tends 
to  cause  a  more  or  less  vigorous  fear  or  avertive  reaction  which 
is  promptly  followed  by  a  compensatory  reaction  which  either  re- 
moves the  painful  stimulus  from  the  receptor  (fight)  or  the  receptor 
from  the  painful  stimulus  (flight).  In  order  that  this  vitally  neces- 
sary procedure  shall  be  quickly  and  safely  accomplished  the  auto- 
nomic apparatus  has  developed  the  capacity  to  compensate  by  increas- 
ing the  amount  of  glycogen  and  adrenin  in  the  blood,  by  increasing 
coagulability  of  the  blood,  by  regulating  the  blood  supply  so  that  the 
organs  necessary  for  the  immediate  struggle  shall  be  given  an  in- 
crease of  blood  supply  and  the  organs  not  necessary  for  the  struggle 
shall  have  a  decreased  blood  supply,  by  appropriately  changing  the 
blood  pressure,  by  increasing  the  rate  and  ampiltude  of  the  heart 
beat,  increasing  the  dilatation  of  bronchioles  and  the  working  powers 
of  the  muscle  cells. 

It  is  highly  important  to  recognize,  in  cases  of  infection  and 
toxemia,  fatigue,  and  in  compensation  or  disease  of  a  vital  organ, 
and  surgical  operations,  that  all  forms  of  pain  and  anxiety  produc- 
ing stimuli  should  be  prevented  from  influencing  the  patient  by  re- 
moving  them    from   the   environment,   as   completely   as   possible. 


54  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

(Knowledge  of  and  insight  into  the  affective  mechanisms  is  of  the 
utmost  importance  to  the  physician  and  yet  very  few  medical 
schools  are  giving  prominence  in  their  curriculum  to  the  psychology 
of  the  emotions.) 

It  now  is  safe  to  assume  further,  since  the  vital  organs  must 
respond  in  avoiding  a  pain  stimulus,  that  when  their  functions  are 
weakened  by  disease  or  fatigue,  etc.,  the  individual  is  in  a  pecu- 
liarly vulnerable  physiological  state,  and  his  capacity  to  compensate 
being  reduced,  an  ordinarily  minor  test  of  power  or  resistance  may 
have  a  disastrous  affective  influence,  whereas,  ordinarily  the  indi- 
vidual may  have  been  capable  of  heroic  endurance.  Furthermore, 
it  is  also  necessary,  in  order  to  intelligently  consider  the  problems 
of  the  emotions  of  man,  to  recognize  that  the  postural  tensions  of 
various  autonomic  divisions  (viscera)  may  become  such  that  the 
individual's  resistance  to  a  pain-  or  fear-producing  stimulus  is 
greatly  reduced,  and,  based  upon  the  law  of  summation  of  stimuli, 
a  series  of  ordinarily  minor  tests  may  cause  disastrous  affective  dis- 
turbances in  the  individual.  This  mechanism  probably  determines 
why  many  toxic  patients  become  '^ delirious"  and  is  intimately  re- 
lated to  the  "  war  neuroses  "  or  "  shell  shock." 

To  illustrate,  a  soldier  (described  by  Salmon)  who  had  repeatedly 
demonstrated  heroic  courage  in  the  trenches,  and  received  due  hon- 
orary recognition,  fell  in  love  with  and  married  a  prostitute  while  on 
leave  in  London.  She  became  lonely  when  he  had  to  return  to  duty 
and,  to  keep  her  from  returning  to  her  old  life,  he  gave  her  ample 
means  and  sent  her  to  his  home  on  a  Canadian  farm.  Shortly  after 
she  arrived  she  eloped  with  a  laborer.  A  duly  indignant  letter  from 
his  family  was  received  by  the  young  man  and  a  serious  depression 
of  the  autonomic  functions  resulted.  While  in  this  state  he  de- 
veloped "shell  shock"  upon  being  sent  into  the  trenches.  In  this 
case  we  must  recognize  the  development  of  a  vulnerable  autonomic 
or  affective  state,  a  summation  of  pain  stimuli  and  the  final  reaction 
of  "  shock  "  with  distortion  of  the  personality. 

The  importance  and  intricate  nature  of  the  mechanisms  of  the 
emotions  makes  it  highly  essential  that,  wherever  students  are  trained 
for  the  purpose  of  correcting  anomalous  human  functions,  as  in 
medicine,  surgery,  social  service,  psychology,  the  law,  and  the  min- 
istry, an  adequately  organized  course  of  instruction  on  the  mech- 
anisms of  the  emotions  be  given. 

Crile  (i6,  p.  224)  concludes  from  his  observations  on  the  adap- 
tive mechanisms  of  man  and  animals  that  "  adaptation  to  environment 
is  made  by  means  of  a  system  of  organs  evolved  for  the  purpose  of 
converting  potential  energy  into  heat  and  motion.     The  principal 


FUNCTIONAL  CONSIDERATIONS  OF  THE  THEORY  55 

organs  and  tissues  of  this  system  are  the  brain,  the  adrenals,  the 
thyroid,  the  muscles,  and  the  liver."  Upon  the  functions  of  this 
series  of  organs  Crile  formulated  his  fertile  conception  of  the 
"kinetic  drive"  which  is  wholly  a  physiological  mechanism  of  the 
emotions. 

Just  as  in  hunger,  we  have  seen  that  in  the  autonomic-affective 
disturbances  of  the  love,  fear  and  anger  types  the  organism  reflexly 
readjusts  its  relations  to  the  environment  so  as  to  acquire  from  it 
stimuli  which  have  the  capacity  to  set  up  such  autonomic  reactions 
as  will  neutralize  the  unpleasant,  disturbed  affective  or  autonomic 
tensions. 

This  autonomic  law  applies  also  for  all  other  affective  disturb- 
ances, including  all  the  so-called  "  delicate  "  sentiments.  The  prin- 
ciple of  acquiring  adequate  stimuli  and  avoiding  inadequate  or  harm- 
ful stimuli  determines  an  organism's  behavior  in  its  relations  to  the 
environment.  The  principle  of  acquiring  adequate  stimuli  for  itch- 
ing surfaces  is  certainly  the  final  compulsive  mechanism  of  the 
sexual  functions  of  both  sexes  in  all  animals  and  birds.  The  grati- 
fication of  the  compulsive  sexual  craving  is  in  its  physiological 
mechanics  very  similar  to  the  gratification  of  the  itching  gastric 
surface,  compulsive  food  craving.  The  self -preservative  cravings 
and  the  reproductive  cravings  are  in  no  essential  respect  dissimilar 
in  the  principle  of  seeking  counter-stimulation  for  the  neutralizing 
eflFect. 

The  physiologist  has  been  able  to  demonstrate  the  autonomic 
changes  of  hunger,  fear,  anger  and  anxiety,  and  his  experiments  in- 
dicate that  he  will  probably  be  able  to  demonstrate  changes  occurring 
in  joy,  shame  and  disgust  reactions.  Clinical  and  psychoanalytic 
studies,  and,  most  essentially,  introspective  studies,  as  in  the  physi- 
ologist's study  of  hunger,  will  have  to  be  depended  upon  for  insight 
into  the  more  delicate  affective  reactions. 

The  physiologists,  like  the  anatomists,  will  have  little  use  for  any 
other  term  than  that  of  the  autonomic  system  or  apparatus,  but  so 
soon  as  introspective  data  is  needed  and  one's  awareness  of  the  par- 
ticular feelings  caused  by  the  autonomic  changes  are  necessary, 
then  the  term  affective  sensorimotor  system  becomes  useful.  For 
the  psychologists,  and  in  all  forms  of  applied  physiology,  psychology 
and  psychiatry,  the  term  affective  sensorimotor  system  is  more  con- 
ducive to  clearness. 

It  has  been  amply  demonstrated  by  the  experiments  of  Cannon, 
Crile  and  others  that  the  autonomic  apparatus  preserves  itself  first 


56  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

at  all  costs  of  energy,  of  structure  and  suffering  to  the  organism. 
In  a  behavioristic  or  psychological  sense  the  autonomic  apparatus  or 
affective  sensorimotor  system  always  dominates  the  personality  and 
is  the  only  dynamic  principle  in  the  personality  capable  of  sustained 
action.     The  simple  reflex  in  itself  has  only  a  brief  reactive  capacity. 

At  birth,  birds,  young  animals,  and  infants  have  anatomically  a 
well-organized  autonomic  apparatus  and  apparently  a  functioning 
affective  sensorimotor  system  as  shown  in  their  very  early  hunger, 
love  and  fear  reactions  (Watson,  17).  How  much  the  affective 
sensorimotor  system  is  elaborated  with  growth  is  still  a  problem, 
but  it  seems  that  the  cerebro-spinal  sensorimotor  system  is  the  ap- 
paratus which  becomes  coordinated  and  systematized  most  after 
birth. 

The  clumsy,  helpless  struggles  of  the  terrified,  or  hungry,  or 
playful  young  indicate  that  they  have  a  comparatively  well-organ- 
ized affective  sensorimotor  system  and  a  very  inefficiently  organized 
cerebrospinal  (projicient)  sensorimotor  system;  the  latter  having, 
however,  an  enormous  capacity  to  be  efficiently  coordinated  in  its 
functions.  The  value  of  this,  making  possible  greater  adaptive  ad- 
justments to  environmental  changes,  is  obvious. 

"Conditioning"  of  the  Autonomic  Apparatus 

The  recognition  that  the  emotions  or  feelings,  or  better,  the 
affective-autonomic  cravings,  have  their  origin  in  the  peripheral 
changes  in  the  viscera  is  of  the  utmost  importance  in  the  study 
of  the  nature  of  man.  The  problem  arises  now,  how  do  certain 
affective  cravings  come  to  use  certain  receptors  and  avoid  others, 
and  seek  certain  stimuli  and  avoid  others  ? 

It  seems,  as  the  following  data  indicate,  that  the  autonomic  ap- 
paratus becomes  conditioned,  through  experiences,  in  its  avertive  and 
acquisitive  tendencies  toward  the  environment.  The  fear  reactions 
of  one  cat  or  chicken  may  be  strongly  aroused  by  the  presence  of  a 
small  boy  and  others  may  feel  no  fear  reaction  from  the  same 
stimulus.  Obviously  the  whole  question  of  the  individual's  success- 
ful struggle  for  life  depends  upon  what  stimuli  in  the  environment 
cause  fear  reactions  in  the  autonomic  apparatus.  In  new  territories 
explorers  find  that  a  man  at  first  causes  little  fear  reaction  in  game. 
It  seems  that  the  autonomic  apparatus  is  not  only  conditioned  in  its 
fear  reactions,  but  also  in  its  food-hunger,  sexual-hunger,  love,  play, 
disgust,  and  even  the  selection  of  migratory  trails  and  habitat,  and 
its  mating  and  creative  endeavors. 


FUNCTIONAL  CONSIDERATIONS  OF  THE  THEORY  57 

The  work  of  Pawlow,  Bechterew,"  Watson  and  Latchley  (23)  and 
an  observation  by  Sherrington,  besides  a  long  series  of  individual 
studies  of  the  affective  functions  of  normal  and  abnormal  people 
seem  to  confirm  the  more  recent  impression  that  the  cerebrospinal 
sensorimotor  apparatus  becomes  organized,  in  the  development  of 
the  personality  of  man  and  animals,  according  to  the  conditioning 
of  the  avertive  and  acquisitive  needs  of  the  autonomic  apparatus. 
(This  principle,  if  true,  may  necessitate  a  revision  of  the  general 
conception  of  instincts.) 

The  young  of  the  higher  animals  and  birds  have  to  learn  to  co- 
ordinate the  functions  of  their  skeletal  muscles  and  particularly  of 
the  extremities.  They  use  the  same  skeletal  muscles  and  very  simi- 
lar coordinations  for  defence  as  well  as  for  oflfense,  for  the  avoid- 
ing or  acquisition  of  stimuli.  In  the  different  uses  there  seems  to 
be  no  fundamental  variation.  The  variant  lies  in  the  affective 
(autonomic)  disposition  at  the  moment. 

This  is  probably  also  true  for  the  nest-building  of  birds  and  for 
raising  the  young.'^  Certainly  marked  changes  occur  in  the  auto- 
nomic apparatus  during  the  breeding  season  and  observations  of 
the  fear  and  anger  reactions  of  birds  and  animals  during  the  breed- 
ing state  indicate  that  marked  changes  occur  in  their  affective  dis- 
positions. 

Bechterew  first  pointed  out,  and  has  since  been  supported  in 
America  by  the  work  of  Watson  and  Latchley,  that  when  the  pri- 
mary stimulus  of  a  secretion  or  motor  reflex  is  associated  simul- 
taneously for  a  number  of  times  with  an  uninfluential  or  indifferent 
stimulus  then  the  reflex  will  become  conditioned  to  react  to  the 
previously  uninfluential  stimulus.*  It  has  been  observed  that  indi- 
viduals vary  greatly  in  their  susceptibilities  for  having  reflexes  con- 

*  I  have  had  to  depend  upon  an  unauthorized  translation  of  Von  Bech- 
terew's  "La  Psychologic  Objective,"  Chapter  IX,  which,  however,  is  so 
clearly  intelligible  that  many  of  the  general  principles  of  conditioning  re- 
actions are  freely  used  in  the  following  discussion. 

7  The  so-called  inherent  nest-building  instincts  of  birds  and  animals  are 
not  satisfactory  as  contradictory  or  substantiating  evidence  because  of  the 
little  that  we  know  about  the  conditioning  influence  of  the  birdling's  sojourn 
in  the  nest,  the  frequency  with  which  the  bird  handles  material  in  the  non- 
nest-building  season,  and  whether  or  not  it  uses  any  specifically  different 
movements  in  the  nesting  season. 

*If  a  painful  electric  stimulus  is  applied  to  the  great  toe,  which  causes  it 
to  be  reflexly  withdrawn,  and  is  simultaneously  associated  for  a  number  of 
times  with  a  bell  sound  (uninfluential  stimulus)  which  previously  did  not 
affect  the  toe  reflex,  the  toe  reflex  will  become  conditioned  to  react  to  the 
bell  sound  after  the  painful  electric  stimulus  has  been  stopped.    Watson  (23). 


58  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

ditioned,   which   observation   is   strongly   supported  by   studies   in 
psychopathology  (15). 

Bechterew's  studies  have  demonstrated  further  that  when  a  se- 
cretion or  motor  reflex  has  been  well  conditioned  to  react  to  a  for- 
merly uninfluential  or  indifferent  stimulus,  this  non-influential  or 
conditioning  stimulus  may  in  turn,  under  forcible  conditions,  be- 
come the  means  by  which  other  indifferent  stimuli  may  develop  a 
conditioning  influence.  Here  again  individuals  (men  and  animals) 
vary  greatly;  no  doubt  the  affective-autonomic  apparatus  varies 
greatly  in  its  reactivity,  existing  in  a  more  or  less  vulnerable  physio- 
logical state,  which  is  indicated  from  the  study  of  psychoneuroses. 
The  variation  in  reactivity  lies  not  only  in  the  association  capacities 
of  the  individual  but  also  in  the  nature  of  the  affective  cravings  at 
the  time  of  the  stimulation  of  experience. 

This  peculiar  capacity  of  the  different  segments  of  the  auto- 
nomic apparatus  to  react  directly  to  primary  stimuli,  and  also  to 
become  conditioned  through  experience  to  react  to  the  associated 
stimuli,  knits  the  entire  organism  into  a  reactive  unity  because  of 
the  complicated,  repetitious  intermixing  of  stimuli  in  the  environ- 
ment. Hence  it  becomes  more  complexly  integrated  and  delicately 
balanced  in  its  avertive  and  acquisitive  reactions  as  the  effects  of 
later  conditioning  experiences  become  superimposed  upon  the  pre- 
vious experiences  of  preadolescence. 

A  hungry  monkey  or  child  that  will  boldly  take  a  prune  from 
the  hand,  but  run  from  a  stick  in  the  hand,  may  cautiously  approach 
to  seize  a  prune  from  the  end  of  a  stick,  but  under  no  circumstances 
return  near  the  stick-prune  after  it  has  been  struck  by  the  stick. 
Also  the  stick  itself  will  not  cause  fear  reactions,  nor  the  empty 
hand,  but  the  stick  in  the  hand  may  cause  a  panic.  The  sight,  odor, 
and  sounds  made  by  a  hunter  did  not  frighten  a  young  moose  until 
he  threw  a  club  at  it.  After  that  the  olfactory,  visual  and  auditory 
stimuli  from  the  man  alone  caused  fear  reactions  and  flight. 

The  association  of  primary  with  indifferent  stimuli  seems  to  be 
the  principle  by  which  the  distance  receptors  develop  most  of  their 
capacity  to  cause  reactions  of  motor  and  secretion  reflexes.  Some 
time  in  the  individual's  past  the  stimulus  of  the  distance  receptor, 
which  heretofore  had  an  indifferent  effect  upon  the  reflexes  of  the 
organism,  was,  by  coincidence,  associated  with  a  contact  stimulus 
that  had  an  inherent  primary  capacity  to  arouse  pain  or  pleasure 
reactions  in  the  organism. 

A  two-year-old  boy  was  learning  to  play  with  fireflies  through  the 
influence  of  an  adult.     For  him  all  insects  of  the  firefly  size  were 


FUNCTIONAL  CONSIDERATIONS  OF  THE  THEORY  59 

like  fireflies.  One  day  he  caught  a  bee.  It  stung  him  in  the  finger 
and  since  then  he  will  not  go  near  a  bee  and  touches  fireflies  very 
gingerly.  If  the  bee  experience  had  been  the  first  experience  with 
insects  all  insects  would  have  been  potential  bees  for  some  time 
(causes  of  pain),  and  fireflies  would  probably  not  have  been  handled 
until  numerous  pleasure  experiences  with  other  very  different  in- 
sects had  been  acquired. 

A  young  girl  (about  six)  was  in  a  carriage  crossing  a  track, 
when  the  horse,  driven  by  an  older  girl,  became  frightened  at  the 
approach  of  a  train.  A  horrible  catastrophe  was  barely  averted 
and  since  then  this  girl  (now  fifteen)  still  feels  uncomfortable  reac- 
tions when  she  recalls  the  experience,  when  she  passes  this  railroad 
crossing,  and  is  very  uncomfortable  in  carriages  without  a  well- 
trusted  man  driver. 

Another  young  girl  (about  seven)  found  her  grandfather  hang- 
ing by  the  neck  from  a  tree.  He  committed  suicide  largely  because 
his  son,  the  girl's  father,  mistreated  him  and  wished  him  to  be  out 
of  the  way.  The  man's  face  made  a  particularly  horrible  visual 
impression  because  of  the  protruding  black  tongue  and  the  dark, 
swollen  face.  At  thirty-five,  this  girl  is  almost  constantly  in  more 
or  less  of  an  anxiety  state  because  she  cannot  get  rid  of  the  visual 
image  of  her  dead  grandfather,  which  becomes  particularly  vivid 
at  night.  He  was  her  chief  comforter  during  childhood  and  she 
still  retains  an  affective  craving  for  him  which  she  cannot  repress 
("forget").  She  has  made  several  attempts  to  commit  suicide  by 
blowing  herself  up  with  dynamite  and  destroying  herself  with  fire, 
so  that  she  will  not  leave  a  horrible  scene  of  herself  like  the  grand- 
father. She  speaks  of  him  as  calling  her  to  come  to  him."  In  her, 
the  conditioned  love  cravings  persist  in  seeking  their  most  pleasing 
stimulus,  the  living  grandfather ;  hence,  the  broken  idol  which  must 
be  reconstructed. 

Bechterew  and  his  assistants  showed  that  the  conditioning  of 
the  reflex  comes  into  existence  through  the  simultaneous  association 
of  an  indifferent  stimulus  with  a  primary  stimulus  of  the  motor  or 
secretion  reflex.  The  following  series  of  observations  of  this  func- 
tion were  selected  because  they  seemed  the  most  pertinent  for  psy- 
chopathology. 

I.  The  associated  reflex  thus  established  shows  a  tendency  to 
gradual  extinction  which  is  unlike  the  influence  of  the  primary  re- 
flex, as  the  dodging  of  the  troops  to  shell  fire  disappears  in  due  time. 

*  For  further  illustrations  of  the  conditioning  influence  of  the  ordinarily 
indifferent  stimulus,  see  (15). 


60  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

2.  The  conditioned  reflex,  at  first,  is  in  type,  more  or  less,  a 
general  reflex,  but  gradually  becomes  a  closely  determined  (special- 
ized) reflex.  In  some  people  all  guns  and  pistols  cause  fear  reactions, 
but  gradually  only  the  loaded  gun  causes  fear  reactions.  People  are 
conditioned  through  opinions  to  be  afraid  of  all  mushrooms,  but 
gradually  will  eat  anything  called  mushrooms  without  fear,  if  they 
are  served  by  certain  people,  or  if  the  mushroom  has  certain  charac- 
teristics. 

3.  If  the  conditioned  reflex  becomes  reenforced  by  every  new 
stimulus  which  occurs  at  the  time  with  the  primary  stimulus  of  the 
reflex,  the  reflex  then  tends  to  become  generalized  in  its  reactive 
capacities.  When  a  buyer  feels  that  he  has  been  cheated  by  a 
clothier  having  certain  racial  characteristics,  he  does  not  feel  wary 
of  all  salesmen,  unless  it  is  his  first  buying  experience,  but,  if  he  is 
defrauded  a  series  of  times  by  salesmen  of  this  same  race,  all  sales- 
men of  this  race  will  cause  him  to  have  fear  reactions.  As  men 
grow  older  in  experience  their  distrust  of  men  increases,  becomes 
more  generalized,  and  their  feelings  of  confidence  in  men  is  only 
won  by  accurately  defined  assurances. 

4.  Artificial  respiratory  reflexes  can  be  formed  to  react  to  a  light 
stimulus  when  the  light  stimulus  is  associated  several  times  with  a 
violent  sound,  such  as  the  firing  of  a  gun.  The  respiratory  reflex 
may  be  aroused  by  sounds,  if  for  a  time  they  are  associated  with 
pain  stimuli. 

Children,  their  crying  and  general  fear  reactions,  may  become 
conditioned,  not  only  to  react  with  fear  at  the  sight  of  an  instru- 
ment that  caused  pain,  but  at  the  sight  of  the  surgeon  that  per- 
formed the  operation  even  when  seen  under  entirely  different  cir- 
cumstances, such  as  on  the  street,  or  upon  seeing  some  one  who  looks 
like  the  surgeon. 

5.  Motor  reflexes  such  as  extension  of  extremities  may  become 
conditioned  to  react  to  ordinarily  indifferent  light  and  sound  stimuli 
through  simultaneous  associations  with  pain  stimuli. 

6.  The  formation  of  the  conditioned  reflex  seems  to  begin  with 
the  onset  of  the  indiflferent  stimulus.  For  example:  If  a  faradic 
stimulus  is  started  several  seconds  after  a  light  stimulus  has  been 
started  the  reaction  will  begin  with  the  onset  of  the  light  stimulus 
after  the  association  has  been  established  and  not  several  seconds 
later  (the  time  of  onset  of  the  primary  stimulus).  This  reaction 
may  again  become  specialized.  When  a  child  is  bitten  in  his  first 
experience  with  a  barking  dog  he  has  fear  reactions  so  soon  as  he 
sees    or   hears    any    dog.     Later,    after   experiences    with   gentle 


FUNCTIONAL  CONSIDERATIONS  OF  THE  THEORY  6l 

dogs  he  only  has  fear  reactions  when  dogs  show  their  teeth,  or 
growl  or  bark.  Still  later  the  bark  may  only  be  regarded  as  a  bluff 
and  the  growl  may  become  differentiated  in  its  qualities  of  pitch 
and  timbre  as  a  playful  growl  or  a  dangerous  growl. 

If  a  reflex  to  a  given  color  (Walker,  cited  by  Bechterew)  is  es- 
tablished, it  occurs  at  first  to  every  other  color,  but  gradually, 
as  other  colors  than  the  given  one  (say  red)  are  allowed  to  play  as 
indifferent  stimuli,  the  reflex  becomes  conditioned  to  react  only  to 
the  red  stimulus.  (See  the  vomiting  and  nausea  reactions  of  Mrs. 
V.  G.  15.) 

7.  In  dogs  (Protopopoff,  cited  by  Bechterew)  the  (motor)  reflex 
may  become  conditioned  in  its  reactions  to  differentiate  the  quali- 
ties of  a  1/7  tone. 

8.  A  reflex  may  become  so  specifically  conditioned  to  react  to 
certain  forms  of  stimulation  of  certain  skin  areas  that  stimulation 
outside  these  boundaries  will  not  arouse  it.  (Israelsohn,  cited  by 
Bechterew.) 

9.  A  reflex  once  established  gradually  grows  weaker  in  its  re- 
sponse to  the  associated  stimulus  and  finally  disappears  entirely 
(atrophy  of  disuse).  It  can  be  revived  by  a  renewed  association 
with  the  primary  stimulus  and  with  frequent  repetition  grows  more 
and  more  permanent,  as  in  teasing. 

10.  Aside  from  repeated  association  of  the  primary  and  indif- 
ferent stimulus,  the  similar  qualities  of  the  stimuli  and  the  condi- 
tions of  the  association  are  of  importance;  in  dogs  a  reflex  to  a 
tactual  stimulus  is  established  very  quickly  when  associated  with 
an  electrical  stimulus  and  it  can  be  obtained  more  than  30-40  times 
in  succession  without  reassociating  it  with  electrical  stimulation 
(Israelsohn,  cited  by  Bechterew)  ;  while  the  reflex  to  color  stimuli 
requires  a  much  greater  number  of  associations  for  fixation,  does 
not  differentiate  so  quickly  and  weakens  sooner  (Walker,  cited  by 
Bechterew).  (See  the  determinants  for  the  selection  of  images, 
p.  64). 

11.  Fairly  strong  stimuli  that  have  the  capacity  of  arousing  af- 
fective reactions  may  be  inhibited  for  a  time  by  other  stronger 
stimuli  (distractions)  but  gradually  the  inhibiting  influence  is  lost. 
Peasants  in  France  who  fled  with  the  first  sounds  of  cannon  have 
returned  to  their  homes  and  are  no  longer  disturbed  by  the  firing. 
This  seems  to  be  true  also  for  the  birds  and  small  animals  along 
the  firing  line. 

12.  When  a  motor  reflex  has  been  conditioned  to  react  to  an 
association  stimulus,  under  certain  conditions  other  stimuli  may  be 


62  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

associated  with  this  conditioning  stimulus  and  a  secondary  condi- 
tioning of  the  reflex  may  be  established.  For  example  a  foot  retrac- 
tion may  be  conditioned  to  react  to  a  sound  stimulus  and  then  by 
association  with  the  sound  stimulus  it  may  become  secondarily  con- 
ditioned to  react  to  a  light  stimulus. 

13.  A  motor  reflex  conditioned  to  react  to  a  combined  light  and 
sound  stimulus  will  react  upon  the  incidence  of  either  one.  If  the 
reflex  is  fatigued  to  sound  by  repeated  stimulation  then  the  reflex 
to  light  is  also  fatigued  at  the  same  time  (but  perhaps  not  to  the 
same  degree),  or  vice  versa.  Although  the  reflex  is  fatigued  for 
either  single  stimulus,  it  will  still  react  for  a  brief  number  of  times 
to  a  combination  (summation)  of  the  two  stimuli.  The  reflex  may, 
however,  become  so  specialized  in  its  reaction  that  only  a  combina- 
tion of  the  two  stimuli  will  produce  the  reaction. 

"  Individuality  "  (that  is  aflfectivity)  plays  a  great  role  in  the  for- 
mation of  the  reflex  as  well  as  in  its  durability. 

14.  The  reenforcement  of  a  waning  association  stimulus  of  the 
distance  receptors  always  depends  upon  its  reassociation  with  the 
primary  pleasure  or  pain  stimulus. 

15.  Investigations  have  shown  that  the  lowest  threshold  of  the 
association  reflex  corresponds  to  the  threshold  obtained  by  intro- 
spection. (This  seems  to  mean  that  the  faintest  or  most  obscure 
traits  in  an  object  that  are  still  necessary  to  remind  us  of  another 
object  are  the  stimuli  that  have  the  lowest  threshold  in  order  to 
arouse  the  association  reflex.)  For  example,  the  physical  attributes 
and  posture  of  a  patient's  hand  may  suggest  a  comparison  with 
Mona  Lisa's  hand  to  one  observer  and  not  suggest  it  to  other  ob- 
servers until  they  are  reminded  of  it.  It  is  almost  certain  that  this 
novel  association  of  hands  was  conditioned  by  the  observer  having 
had  a  recent  or  unusual  interest  in  the  Mona  Lisa  hand. 

16.  Association  reflexes  are  just  as  mechanical  as  simple  reflexes 
and  cannot  be  inhibited  voluntarily.  Spoken  words  and  written 
words  as  motor  reflexes  (see  also  dreams,  19)  are  well  known  to 
become  so  conditioned  and  determined  that  they  will  be  reflexly 
aroused  by  the  association  of  stimulus  words.  (The  reaction  time 
measures  the  intensity  of  the  voluntary  struggle  to  repress  the  un- 
pleasant reaction  word  in  order  to  respond  with  a  substitute.) 

17.  When  one  blushes  upon  hearing  an  unpleasant  remark  about 
himself  the  reaction  may  be  interpreted  as  a  vasomotor  reaction  of  a 
certain  area  being  conditioned  to  respond  to  the  stimulus-remark. 
The  foundations  for  the  conditioning  associations  must  necessarily 


FUNCTIONAL  CONSIDERATIONS  OF  THE  THEORY  63 

be  sought  for  in  the  primary  stimulus  (an  experience  which  aroused 
shame  reactions  although  one  may  not  be  aware  of  the  association 
at  the  moment  of  blushing). 

18.  It  is  well  known  that  under  certain  physiological  conditions 
(a)  salivary  secretions  may  be  aroused  by  certain  words,  having 
a  definite  connotation;  (b)  hunger  contractions  may  be  started  by 
sight  of  food,  sound  of  a  bell,  the  hand  of  the  clock,  etc. ;  (c)  evacu- 
ation of  urine  or  feces  or  inhibition  of  their  evacuation  may  be 
caused  by  anxiety  producing  stimuli;  (d)  sexual  sensorimotor  and 
sensori-secretory  reactions  are  highly  conditioned  to  respond  to 
closely  circumscribed  sound,  light,  color  and  form  stimuli,  olfactory 
stimuli  and  less  specifically  defined  touch  and  kinesthetic  stimuli 
aroused  through  movement.  They  are  always  inhibited  by  fear- 
producing  stimuli. 

i9Ljf,  as  Bechterew  has  shown,  the  autonomic  apparatus  can  be 
conditioned  to  react  to  (a)  definite  forms  of  stimulation  of  almost 
specifically  circumscribed  skin  areas,  to  (b)  sounds  having  almost 
exact  timbre  and  pitch,  to  (e)  definite  colors,  forms  and  intensity 
of  light  stimuli,  to  (d)  certain  gustatory  stimuli  and  the  highly  im- 
portant olfactory  stimuli,  then  Freud's  conception,  that  the  develop- 
ment of  secondary  and  primary  erogenous  zones  is  always  different 
for,  and  characteristic  of,  each  individual  (determined  by  his  expe- 
riences) is  given  a  firm  physiological  foundation  (20). 

Just  as  the  autonomic  functions  became  conditioned  to  use  certain 
receptors  and  avoid  using  other  receptors,  and  seek  certain  stimuli, 
and  avoid  other  stimuli,  so  may  the  affective  cravings  be  shown  to 
act.  The  principal  value  in  this  rather  repetitious  discussion  of 
the  conditioning  of  our  cravings  or  wishes  is  in  that  it  strongly 
supports  the  inference  that  sensations  caused  by  the  autonomic 
changes  and  the  affective  cravings  or  wishes  are  one  and  the  same 
thing,  but  unfortunately  have  not  been  generally  so  regarded^^ 

Conditioning  of  the  Affective  Cravings 

We  not  infrequently  hear  of  people  "  falling  in  love "  at  first 
sight,  or  upon  hearing  a  voice,  or  of  spontaneous  enduring  friendships, 
or  spontaneous  aversions  on  sight,  etc.  A  male  patient  was  hetercH 
sexually  impotent  unless  he  visualized  the  face  of  a  certain  man. 
When  a  boy  of  fifteen  this  man  seduced  him  several  times.  Another 
man  was  in  an  anxiety  state  for  fear  of  social  ruin  because  of  his 
tendency  to  become  infatuated  with  men  of  a  certain  type.  When 
girls  admire  their  fathers  they  are  very  prone  to  feel  strong  attrac- 
tions for  men  having  some  of  their  father's  attributes  and  may  be 

6 


64  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

unable  to  feel  love  reactions  for  other  types  of  men.  This  tend- 
ency varies  considerably  in  degree  with  different  girls  and,  as  their 
affections  become  more  definitely  conditioned  so  as  to  react  to  the 
father's  attributes  only,  they  become  more  unable  to  love  all  other 
types  of  men.  This  conditioning  of  the  love  reactions  of  the  son 
to  the  father's  or  mother's,  the  brother's  or  sister's,  or  aunt's  attri- 
butes is  also  true.  Phobias  and  obsessive  cravings  have  essentially 
a  conditioned  reflex  foundation.  Heterosexual  potency  in  adult 
males  and  females  is  entirely  dependent  (considering  the  individual 
to  be  organically  normal)  upon  the  nature  of  the  conditioning  of 
the  sexual  reflexes  (love  affections).  If  the  type  of  the  sexual 
object  that  alone  has  the  property  of  invigorating  the  male's  or 
female's  sexual  functions  is  so  highly  specialized  by  a  parental  at- 
tachment that  no  adequate  image  or  substitute  can  be  had,  the  indi- 
vidual tends  to  suffer  from  the  horrors  of  incest.  Passive  homo- 
sexuality is  usually  the  result  of  so  conditioning  the  affective  reac- 
tions that  the  individual  is  incapable  (castrated)  of  heterosexual 
powers,  fear  apparently  causing  an  affective  regression  to  a  more 
dependent  affective  attitude  (5). 

The  g^ave  problem  of  sexual  perversions  is  essentially  one  of 
conditioned  reflexes  in  a  large  group  of  people  just  as  a  happy 
virility  is  the  manifestation  of  the  conditioned  reflex. 

Selection  of  mates  is  essentially  dependent  upon  the  conditioning 
of  the  affective  reactions  to  respond  to  definite  forms  of  stimula- 
tion of  the  exteroceptors.  This  generally  determines  mating  to 
occur  only  within  species,  since  its  specific  nature  generally  precludes 
mating  between  species  and  constitutes  the  mechanism  of — natural 
selection. 

Biological  potency  depends  upon  the  conditioning  of  the  affective 
sensori-motor  system  to  so  react  to  stimuli  as  to  give  feelings  of 
power  and  joy  and  not  of  fear  by  causing  an  appropriate  shift  in 
the  blood  supply  and  by  stimulating  the  glands  of  internal  secretion. 

Savages,  as  well  as  people  of  the  present  day,  use  rituals,  images, 
fetiches,  amulets,  souvenirs,  eat  and  drink  animal  and  vegetable 
extracts  in  order  to  stimulate  in  themselves  feelings  of  happiness, 
grace  and  power.  The  images  and  rituals  that  are  retained,  and  are 
liked,  have  an  energizing,  "  inspiring  "  value  because  the  autonomic 
apparatus  is  conditioned  to  react  to  certain  stimuli  which  are  to  be 
found,  in  part,  perhaps  in  miniature,  in  the  image  or  ritual.  The 
image  or  fetich  used  by  the  intelligent  individual  or  savage  has  an 
actual  and  very  valuable  physiological  influence  in  counteracting  the 
tendency  to  anxiety  about  his  fitness  and  potency.     One  observes 


FUNCTIONAL  CONSIDERATIONS  OF  THE  THEORY  65 

that  demented  patients  resort  to  this  same  method  of  reinvigorating 
themselves,  using  mannerisms,  fetiches,  "cures,"  etc.  Some  reli- 
gions have  highly  developed  the  subtle  use  of  images  and  fetiches 
to  give  the  anxious  individual  feelings  of  grace,  potency  and  well- 
being,  but  the  individual  refuses  to  recognize  that  the  ritual  exists 
merely  for  that  purpose  because  that  would  tend  to  defeat  its  value. 

The  following  observation  may  be  considered  as  an  instance  of 
the  conditioned  affective  reactions  in  an  individual  to  visual  stimuli. 
A  young  man,  while  walking  through  a  crowd  in  a  depot  suddenly 
felt  and  showed  considerable  elation  and  excitement  as  his  eye 
caught  the  figure  of  a  girl.  "It  is  R — ,"  he  said,  and  started 
toward  the  girl.  As  he  drew  near,  his  eye  caught  a  movement  of 
the  girl's  head  that  made  him  say,  "  It  may  not  be  R — ,  but  it  cer- 
tainly looks  like  R — ."  Another  step,  and  his  eye  caught  features 
that  made  him  say,  "  It  is  not  R — ,  but  her  figure  and  carriage 
certainly  look  like  R — 's  "  and  his  elation  changed  to  chagrin.  The 
personal  and  physical  attributes  of  R —  had  certainly  previously 
given  him  very  pleasing  affective  reactions  and  the  physical  attributes 
of  the  stranger,  which  were  similar,  also  caused  pleasing,  affective 
reactions,  until  they  became  too  adulterated  by  other  visual  stimuli 
of  indifferent  or  offensive  value. 

One  can  easily  collect  numerous  illustrations  of  fear,  anger, 
anxiety,  hunger,  shame,  sorrow,  joy,  and  other  affective  reactions, 
to  peculiar  stimuli,  which  would  have  had  an  indifferent  value, 
except  for  their  associations  with  other  stimuli  which  have  pre- 
viously had  an  unusual  affective  influence. 

We  tend  to  like  strangers  because  they  have  physical  and  per- 
sonal attributes  and  mannerisms  like  certain  friends.  We  tend  to 
dislike  new  acquaintances  because  they  have  attributes  like  people 
who  have  been  offensive  to  us. 

That  the  autonomic  nervous  system  may  be  conditioned  to  react 
to  stimuli  is  observable  in  the  milk  sheep.  When  her  lamb  is  shown 
to  her  milk  begins  to  drop  from  her  udders  and  this  may  occur 
when  she  hears  it  bleat  (Mikitin).  When  a  piece  of  meat  is  taken 
from  a  box  for  a  series  of  times  opening  of  the  box  will  start  the 
digestive  functions  in  the  dog. 

A  personal  experience  may  be  cited  here.  While  eating  a 
shredded  biscuit  in  a  restaurant  the  spoon  uncovered  a  cooked  fly 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  cause  conviction  that  it  had  been  in  the 
biscuit.  With  the  greatest  difficulty  the  nausea  and  disgust  was 
controlled,  but  since  then  it  has  been  impossible  to  eat  this  type  of 
shredded  biscuit  without  feeling  strong  avertive  movements  in  the 


66  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

Stomach.    As  this  was  first  written  the  recall  of  the  images  of  that 
experience  aroused  feelings  of  nausea. 

Blushing,  obsessive  phobias,  compulsive  cravings,  psychoneu- 
oses,  appetites,  sexual  excitement,  hatred,  convulsions,  vomiting, 
anesthesias  (15),  etc.,  are  autonomic  reactions  that  become  condi- 
tioned to  react  to  well-defined  stimuli  which  may  have  a  wholly  in- 
different effect  upon  other  people. 

Sherrington  (11,  p.  395)  observed  in  his  Turin  dog  that  the 
signal  noise  of  the  inductorium  which  was  heard  by  the  animal 
caused  cardiac  inhibition  (from  180  to  54  per  minute)  with  increase 
of  its  systolic  amplitude  and  also  affected  the  rate  of  the  respira- 
tion. He  explained  that  this  was  possibly  due  to  association  of  the 
sounds  of  the  inductorium  to  previous  painful  (faradic)  stimulation 
of  the  skin  when  mapping  out  areas  of  anesthesia  upon  several 
previous  occasions.  Besides  the  cardiac  and  respiratory  disturbance 
he  noted  that  the  recurrence  of  the  sound  occasioned  "  emotional 
anxiety."  No  rise  of  blood  pressure  occurred,  the  dog  having  a 
spinal  transection  just  posterior  to  the  origin  of  the  phrenic  nerve. 

One  may  see  in  this  laboratory  experiment  a  situation  analogous 
to  the  stage  experiments  of  theatrical  managers.  The  audience, 
which  congregates  to  give  itself  up  to  being  emotionally  manipulated 
by  the  players,  is  artfully  conditioned  by  the  actor's  words  and  man- 
ner to  be  ready  for  a  scene  or  incident  that  is  to  follow.  A  further 
(conditioned)  complication  may  arise  when  the  players  get  the 
audience  "  set "  and  then  fail  to  put  the  hit  over  the  footlights  due 
to  the  mispronunciation  of  a  well-known  word,  the  situation  falling 
"flat." 

Savages  as  well  as  intelligent  people  in  modem  civilization  are 
greatly  affected  by  the  personal  property  of  the  dead,  departed,  hated 
and  loved.  Mementoes  and  gifts  cause  affective  reactions  by  asso- 
ciation of  the  gift  (indifferent  stimulus)  with  the  donor  (primary 
stimulus)  on  the  principle  of  the  "conditioned"  reflex. 

Lovers  delight  in  giving  themselves  to  each  other  in  the  form  of 
gifts,  photographs,  wearing  apparel,  etc.  Parents  often  cherish  the 
wearing  apparel  and  toys  of  their  children  for  their  affective  stimu- 
lation ("old  ties").  On  the  other  hand  people  tend  to  avoid  ob- 
jects to  which  they  have  become  conditioned  to  react  with  unpleas- 
ant feelings  of  hatred,  disgust,  sorrow,  shame,  fear,  etc. 

Restatement. — We  have  seen  that  various  divisions  of  the  auto- 
nomic system,  which  includes  the  innervated  cells,  such  as  the 
salivary  glands,  tear  glands,  circulatory  system,  stomach,  sexual 
organs,  etc.,  eventually  become  conditioned  to  react  with  avertive 


FUNCTIONAL  CONSIDERATIONS  OF  THE  THEORY  67 

or  acquisitive  tendencies  to  definite  forms  of  stimulation  of  any  of 
the  great  receptor  fields,  and  this  is  also  true  of  all  the  typical  forms 
of  emotional  or  affective  reactions  one  may  experience,  as  well  as 
the  more  atypical  and  usually  more  delicate  affective  reactions  or 
sentiments.  Furthermore,  different  autonomic  reactions  may  be- 
come conditioned  to  react  to  the  same  general  situation,  as  fear  and 
love  being  aroused  in  an  individual  without  his  being  able  to  recog- 
nize the  different  stimuli  causing  the  reactions,  and  since  this 
unconscious  mechanism  would  be  even  more  likely  to  occur  in  the 
savage,  child,  and  lower  animals,  birds,  fish  and  insects,  it  explains 
the  mechanism  of  unconscious  or  natural  selection;  that  is,  sexual 
selection,  which  Darwin  emphasized  in  his  theory  of  evolution,  as  a 
determining  factor  of  the  universal  struggle  for  life  because  of  the 
fierce  competition  that  must  naturally  result  when  two  individuals 
are  conditioned  to  require  the  same  object. 


PART  III 

The  Nature  of  the  Dynamic  Influence  of  the  Affective 
Functions  upon  Behavior 

The  Continuity  and  Complexity  of  the  Affective  Stream 

There  has  been  a  strange  tendency  among  many  psychologists 
to  consider  that  an  emotional  state  exists  only  when  the  individual 
shows  some  perturbation  of  his  habitual  composure.  It  is  funda- 
mentally essential  to  recognize  that  during  consciousness  an  emo- 
tional or  affective  status  continuously  exists,  and  during  sleep  the 
stream  of  affectivity  is  subliminal  in  its  activity,  except  during 
dreams.  We  are  always,  when  conscious,  aware  of  a  state  of  feel- 
ing, of  an  emotional  status,  even  during  states  of  rest,  reverie  and 
general  indifference.  The  affective  status  constitutes  our  attitude- 
of-mind  and  largely  determines  the  nature  of  the  content  of  con- 
sciousness. 

Another  confusing  practice  of  some  psychologists,  that  has 
been  the  cause  of  considerable  confusion,  is  the  tendency  to  con- 
sider that  an  emotion  either  exists  or  does  not  exist,  and  that  it 
exists  in  the  personality  by  itself  as  a  free  agent  that  may  attach 
or  detach  itself  to  objects,  people,  ideas,  etc.  The  facts  that  a  re- 
flex may  be  aroused  by  the  summation  of  subliminal  stimuli  and  that 
gastric  contractions  precede  hunger,  certainly  show  that  autonomic 
activities  occur  before  cravings  or  sensations  are  felt  and  may  en- 
dure without  our  being  conscious  of  them.  There  is  no  evidence 
that  we  are  ever  possessed  by  one  pure  emotion,  such  as  love,  anger, 
fear,  sorrow,  shame,  disgust,  etc.  We  may  feel  that  an  affective 
status  such  as  love,  anger,  fear,  etc.,  completely  dominates  us,  but 
if  one  will  take  the  trouble  to  analyze  himself  while  he  is  dominated 
by  a  strong  affective  disturbance  he  can  usually  recognize  the  symp- 
toms of  other  affective  tendencies  at  work  in  the  background  of 
consciousness.  Frequently  they  are  quite  opposite  in  nature,  and 
one's  behavior  is  the  resultant  or  compromise  of  the  various  affective 
tendencies  inhibiting  or  reen forcing  one  another.  One  may  often 
see  this  neatly  illustrated  in  struggles  with  compulsive  cravings  and 
in  moments  of  indecision  that  occur  frequently  during  the  day,  as 
opposing  affective  interests  demand  gratification  at  the  same  time  by 

68 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE   FUNCTIONS   UPON    BEHAVIOR  69 

one  act  or  decision.  We  may  have  two  or  more  affective  processes 
strongly  at  work  within  ourselves  at  the  same  time  aroused  by  the 
same  complex  situation,  because  various  attributes  of  an  object  or 
a  situation  may  each  vigorously  stimulate  quite  different  varieties 
of  autonomic  activity,  causing  a  quite  indescribable  but  very  strong 
affective  state. 

A  simple  experiment  demonstrates  this  type  of  affective  conflict. 
(See  Fig.  3.)  A  prune  held  before  a  series  of  monkey  cages  brought 
the  monkeys  in  almost  a  straight  line  to  the  screen.  A  stick  then 
held  before  the  cages  caused  them  to  make  tangled  trails  in  the  back 
of  the  cages.  Then  a  prune  on  the  end  of  the  stick  brought  them 
to  the  prune  in  a  zigzagged  line.  In  such  experiences  one  sees  that 
the  prune-hunger  straight-line  and  the  stick-fear  tangled-line  of 
adaptation  is  formed  into  a  resultant  prune-hunger,  stick-fear  zig- 
zagged line.  One  is  inclined  to  see  in  this  zigzagged  line  the  effects 
of  mild  avertive  fear  and  acquisitive  hunger  contractions  in  the 
stomach  compromising  each  other.  Affective  conflicts,  at  times,  may 
become  extremely  severe  and  complicated.  We  may  feel  a  confu- 
sion of  admiration,  love,  hatred,  and  disgust  for  the  same  person  at 
the  same  time.  We  may  admire  a  man's  delivery  of  a  speech,  love 
some  of  the  principles  he  propounds,  hate  him  for  an  irreparable, 
personal  wrong,  and  be  disgusted  by  his  personal  appearance,  and 
then  say  to  our  friends  that  Senator  X  is  an  eccentric  old  man. 

A  young  woman's  personality  was  almost  annihilated  by  a  pro- 
longed turmoil  of  emotions.  She  admired  her  husband's  ability  but 
suffered  anxiety  from  his  extravagant  waste  of  money.  She  loved 
her  baby  but  felt  herself  to  be  unfit  to  be  its  mother  because  of  her 
shame  from  masturbation.  She  was  in  a  perpetual  state  of  fear 
lest  she  would  be  without  means  and  her  wrongs  discovered.  She 
was  angered  because  of  the  frank  aversions  of  her  people  for  her 
husband  and  she  suffered  from  feelings  of  inferiority  (fear)  of  long 
standing  and  mingled  with  this  was  a  distressing  compulsive  eroti- 
cism. Finally,  bewildered,  she  attempted  to  commit  suicide,  then 
passed  into  a  long-enduring  grave  dissociation  of  the  personality. 
Like  the  diagnostician,  the  psychologist  must  learn  to  exhaustively 
study  all  possible  complicating  derangements  after  the  primary 
disturbance  has  been  found.  In  this  young  woman  the  primary 
difficulty  was  due  to  an  uncontrollable  autoeroticism. 

Affective  processes,  as  numbers  of  psychoanalyzed  cases  have 
shown,  may  greatly  influence  an  individual's  behavior  without  the 
individual  being  aware  of  the  nature  of  his  affectivity  except  that 
he  feels  strong  avertive  or  acquisitive  tendencies  toward  an  object. 


70  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 


K 


Foop  Sric/f  Foop+Sr/c/( 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE  FUNCTIONS   UPON    BEHAVIOR  7 1 

Very  few  people  realize,  when  they  are  expecting  to  speak  before 
an  audience  and  are  disturbed  by  violent  cardiac,  vasomotor  (blush- 
ing or  pallor)  and  visceral  disturbance,  that  beneath  the  eagerness 
to  say  something  impressive  is  the  fear  that  the  audience  will  be 
indifferent,  or  bored,  or  inclined  to  ridicule  instead  of  respect  the 
statements. 

Individuals  may  suffer,  without  being  aware  of  any  affective  de- 
rangement other  than  a  distressing  feeling  of  internal  tension,  from 
repressed  hatred,  fear,  shame,  sorrow,  love  or  disgust,  while  striv- 
ing to  maintain  an  attitude  of  apparent  composure. 

The  Influence  of  the  Affective  Stream  upon  Behavior 

All  affective  processes  are  always  characterized  by  acquisitive 
tendencies  toward  certain  stimuli  and  avertive  tendencies  toward 
other  stimuli.  Hence  an  affective  craving  has  an  ambivalent  rela- 
tionship toward  the  environment  and  exerts  an  ambitendency  upon 
the  organism  in  its  avertive  and  acquisitive  striving.  Any  typical 
affective  craving,  by  its  nature,  divides  all  stimuli  into  satisfactory 
or  unsatisfactory  stimuli,  into  beneficial  or  harmful  stimuli  for  itself. 
When  conflicting  affective  reactions  are  aroused  by  an  object  or  a 
situation,  such  as  fear  and  admiration,  or  fear  and  anger,  different 
attributes  of  the  same  object  or  situation  arouse  the  different 
affective  reactions.  The  fangs  of  a  small  rattlesnake  may  arouse 
strong  fear  reactions  and  avertive  tendencies,  but  its  smallness 
arouses  In  us  a  safe  marginal  feeling  of  power  and  compensatory 
anger  reactions  with  strong  acquisitive  tendencies  for  its  destruction 

Fig.  3.  This  diagram  shows  how  one's  behavior  is  like  the  resultant  of 
parallelograms  of  opposing  forces — autonomic  cravings.  A  to  F  are  six 
monkeys  separately  tested  while  isolated  in  a  cage.  In  series  I,  a  bit  of  food 
was  held  in  the  hand  by  a  careful  observer,  at  (X).  The  arrow  marks  the 
comparatively  direct  acquisitive  course  of  reaction.  In  series  II,  a  stick  was 
held  at  (X)  and  the  arrow  marks  the  excessive  avertive  course  of  reaction 
which  became  tangled  and  incoordinated  because  of  the  firm  resistance  of 
the  environment.  In  series  III,  a  bit  of  food  on  the  end  of  a  stick  was  held 
at  (X).  The  arrow  shows  a  zigzagged  resultant  of  avertive  and  acquisitive 
reactions,  with  final  seizure  of  food.  (The  avertive,  fear,  reactions  in  A 
were  so  marked  for  the  stick  that  they  could  not  be  traced.)  The  degree  of 
the  acquisitive  or  avertive  reactions  to  the  situation  must,  of  course,  vary 
with  the  vigor  of  the  autonomic  craving  or  tension. 

The  same  diagram  may  well  be  used  to  show  the  reactions  of  a  child  or 
adult  doing  pleasing  work  under  a  parent,  teacher  or  boss  who  is  liked, 
series  I;  or  doing  work  that  is  disliked  under  conditions  that  cause  anxiety, 
series  II ;  or  doing  work  that  is  liked  under  conditions  that  cause  anxiety, 
series  III. 


72  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

which  dominate  the  avertive  fear  reactions.  The  cautious  assault 
reveals  the  compromise.  The  crushed,  dead  rattlesnake  as  a  stimu- 
lus then  appeases  (neutralizes)  the  anger  reactions.  We  feel  "  satis- 
fied "  and  tend  to  brag  of  our  exploit  (potency).  An  object  or  situa- 
tion must  always  be  regarded  as  a  composite  of  stimuli  some  of 
which  may  cause  quite  the  opposite  reactions  at  the  same  time, 
although  the  object  only  stimulates  one  receptor  field,  like  the  prune- 
stick  (visual)  stimulus.  An  individual  may  fill  us  with  admiration 
and  then  shock  us  with  a  revelation  of  weakness.  An  actress  may 
win  our  admiration  by  her  grace  and  ingenuity  while  we  are  dis- 
gusted by  her  moral  reputation.  One  may  imagine  a  painting  that 
may  be  a  source  of  inspiration  to  many  so  soon  as  the  pose  of  the 
head  of  one  figure  is  changed  appropriately, 

A  sound,  an  odor,  a  glimpse,  a  movement  may  instantly  destroy 
the  sublime  effects  of  a  stage  scene.  A  misplaced  word  may  be 
disastrous. 

In  the  study  of  the  behavior  of  animals,  and  even  in  the  simple 
reflex,  a  variation  in  threshold  of  response  may  often  be  observed. 
The  status  of  the  affective  cravings  (or  "autonomic  component")  of 
the  animal  determines  its  reaction  to  the  maze,  the  puzzle,  problem, 
struggle,  etc.  Hunger,  fear,  and  love,  sometimes  disgust,  and  anger 
are  usually  depended  upon  to  furnish  the  dynamic  principle  in  the 
experimental  situation.  When  the  behaviorist  must  depend  en- 
tirely upon  the  physical  attributes  of  the  maze  and  not  the  affective 
urge,  his  eflforts  yield  little  result. 

When  a  rat  solves  a  maze  to  acquire  freedom  or  food  it  quickly 
learns  to  eliminate  the  blind  passages  for  which  the  dominant  affec- 
tive craving  has  an  aversion,  and  when  it  finally  reaches  the  food, 
say  after  the  shortest  possible  number  of  movements,  the  gastric 
affective  craving  continues  its  compelling  influence  until  its  itching 
is  neutralized  by  the  food  stimuli  being  placed  in  the  stomach. 

In  the  formation  of  a  habit  we  may  observe  in  the  trial-and- 
error  method  that  the  aflfective  state  compels  the  use  of  a  wide 
variety  of  movements  with  more  or  less  repetition  and  unique  com- 
binations with  the  gradual  elimination  of  the  movements  that  ex- 
posed the  receptors  to  unsatisfactory  stimuli,  such  as  going  to  the 
end  of  the  blind  alley,  or  a  pain  stimulus.  (If  the  animal  greatly 
needed  to  solve  the  maze  for  the  sake  of  its  life  the  blind  alley  would 
virtually  become  an  additional  pain  stimulus.)  When  imitation  is 
possible  the  elimination  process  is  often  greatly  abbreviated.  If 
the  principal  receptors,  which  the  affective  craving  used  most  in 
the  situation,  are  eliminated,  then  the  motor  coordinations  will  be 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE  FUNCTIONS   UPON   BEHAVIOR  73 

reorganized  so  that  the  newly  adopted  receptors  will  not  be  exposed 
to  stimuli  for  which  the  dominant  affective  craving  has  aversions. 
This  is  shown  in  the  gradual  elimination  of  useless  movements  in 
releaming  a  maze  after  the  eyes,  or  vibrissae,  etc.,  have  been  re- 
moved in  the  rat  (lo,  p.  210). 

Emotions  and  Instincts 

No  subjects  in  psychology  have  aroused  more  controversy  than 
emotions  and  instincts.  A  review  of  some  of  the  most  prevalent 
conceptions  of  emotions  and  instincts  to  be  found  in  academic  psy- 
chlogy  shows  a  vague  but  persistent  tendency  to  divide  bodily  reac- 
tions into  instinctive  or  emotional  types  as  they  tend  to  deal  with  the 
environment  or  to  terminate  within  the  body.  In  this  respect  aca- 
demic psychology  tends  to  agree.  The  disagreement  lies  in  the  con- 
ception of  the  central  or  peripheral  origin  of  the  emotions. 

James  (13,  p.  442)  confusingly  says:  "Instinctive  reactions  and 
emotional  expressions  shade  imperceptibly  into  each  other.  Every 
object  that  excites  an  instinct  excites  an  emotion  as  well."  "When 
outward  deeds  are  inhibited,  .  .  .  emotional  expressions  still  remain." 
"  Emotions,  however,  fall  short  of  instincts  in  that  the  emotional  re- 
action usually  terminates  in  the  subject's  own  body,  whilst  the  in- 
stinctive reaction  is  apt  to  go  farther  and  enter  into  practical  rela- 
tions with  the  exciting  object."     (Italics  mine.) 

This  vague  and  unsatisfactory  differentiation  of  emotions  from 
instincts  confuses  his  law  of  the  emotions.  It  considers,  however, 
that  autonomic  changes,  of  which  we  become  aware  as  feelings 
or  affective  disturbances,  are  the  emotional  reactions.  That  the 
"  emotional  reaction  usually  terminates  in  the  subject's  own  body 
whilst  the  instinctive  reaction  is  apt  to  go  farther  and  enter  into 
practical  relations  with  the  exciting  object "  is  hopelessly  vague 
and  confusing.  The  terms  "  usually  "  and  "  apt  to  go  farther  "  per- 
mit such  unlimited  vacillation  that  they  are  useless  for  physiological 
psychology. 

Ladd  and  Woodworth  (22,  p.  523)  state  that  "besides  the 
physiological  changes  of  central  origin  which  accompany  or  follow 
certain  perceptions  and  trains  of  ideas,  the  wonderful  characteristic 
effect  which  these  forms  of  feeling  produce  upon  certain  of  the 
vital  organs  is  the  most  noteworthy  peculiarity  of  the  affections,  emo- 
tions and  passions."  They  emphasize  the  vasomotor  reactions  as 
being  among  the  most  important.     This  is  a  reversion  to  the  old 


74  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

notion  about  the  central  origin  of  feelings  but  recognizes  that  the 
autonomic  apparatus  plays  a  part  in  the  affective  process. 

Pillsbury  (24)  says  a  single  response  is  a  reflex,  a  complicated 
series  of  responses  an  instinct.  All  emotions  have  an  instinctive 
basis — every  emotion  has  its  instinctive  side ;  and  every  instinct  has 
its  emotional  side;  emotion  is  concerned  primarily  v^ith  responses 
that  end  altogether  within  the  body ;  impulses  are  the  instincts  that 
lead  to  action  directed  beyond  the  body. 

Pillsbury  is  more  definite  than  most  introspective  psychologists 
in  his  definition  that  emotions  end  "altogether"  in  the  body  and 
that  instincts  lead  to  action  directed  "beyond"  the  body.  He  cer- 
tainly applies  emotions  to  functions  of  the  autonomic  sensori-motor 
system  and  reserves  instincts  for  the  expressions  of  the  projicient 
sensori-motor  system.  That  every  emotion  has  its  instinctive  side 
and  every  instinct  has  its  emotional  side  is  a  confusing  statement, 
unless  it  means  that  every  affective  sensori-motor  change  (emotion) 
exerts  an  influence  upon  the  activities  of  the  projicient  motor  system 
(instincts). 

Angell  (21,  p.  369)  quotes  James  in  his  discussion  of  emotions 
as  follows :  "  An  emotion  is  a  tendency  to  feel  and  an  instinct  is  a 
tendency  to  act  characteristically  when  in  the  presence  of  a  certain 
object  in  the  environment."  Here  again  we  meet  with  a  distinct 
connotation  for  emotions,  as  an  internal  bodily  function,  a  tendency 
to  feel  characteristically,  as  an  autonomic-affective  sensori-motor 
phenomenon.  It  differentiates  emotion  from  instincts.  The  latter, 
he  says,  are  a  tendency  to  act  characteristically,  which  is  a  phenome- 
non of  the  projicient  sensori-motor  system.  But  he  rather  confuses 
the  value  of  instincts  and  emotions  by  using  the  terms  to  apply  to 
the  same  physiological  phenomenon  by  maintaining  that  a  minimum 
measure  of  emotional  tone  exists  in  all  instinctive  or  impulsive  acts, 
which  is  referred  to  the  bodily  resonance  aroused  by  all  such  acts, 
and  that  some  instinctive  activities  are  more  markedly  emotional 
than  others  (21,  p.  381).  Those  instinctive  activities  "which  are 
obviously  of  the  emotional  type  present  instances  in  which  emotion 
is  largely  confined,  so  far  at  least  as  concerns  its  immediate  signifi- 
cance, to  intraorganic  disturbances." 

Parmelee  (25,  p.  301)  says  "the  emotions  are  the  feelings  which 
are  aroused  in  the  nervous  system  by  these  internal  processes  and 
the  movements  of  muscles,  viscera,  etc.,  which  accompany  the  emo- 
tions, are  their  causes."  He  made  a  helpful  contribution  when  he 
divided  the  nervous  system,  as  a  sensori-motor  machine,  including 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE  FUNCTIONS   UPON   BEHAVIOR  75 

all  its  effectors  as  well  as  the  receptors,  into  somatic  sensori-motor 
and  visceral  sensori-motor  systems,  which  are  really  identical  with 
my  division  of  the  body  as  a  sensori-motor  machine  into  projicient 
sensori-motor  and  affective  sensori-motor  systems. 

^  James  (13,  p.  383)  says  "instinct  is  usually  defined  (i)  as 
the  faculty  of  acting  in  such  a  way  as  to  produce  certain  ends, 
(2)  without  foresight  of  the  ends,  and  (3)  without  previous  educa- 
tion in  the  performance."  (i)  refers  to  the  use  of  the  projicient 
motor  system  to  attain  certain  ends.  (2)  implies  a  compound  reflex 
act.  (3)  that  the  neurones  functionate  in  inherent  systematic  as- 
sociations without  previous  coordination  of  the  associations,  being 
phylogenetically  so  determined. 

Parmalee  (25,  p.  226),  after  an  extensive  digest  of  the  subject, 
says :  "  in  order  to  distinguish  an  instinctive  activity  from  an  in- 
ternal physiological  process  it  must  indicate  that  an  instinctive  ac- 
tivity is  an  external  activity  of  the  organism  .  .  .  therefore  ...  an 
instinct  is  an  inherited  combination  of  reflexes  which  have  been  in- 
tegrated by  the  central  nervous  system  so  as  to  cause  an  external  ac- 
tivity of  the  organism  which  usually  characterizes  a  whole  species 
and  is  usually  adaptive." 

Parmalee  emphasizes  the  phylogenetically  associated  reflexes 
which  control  the  activities  of  the  projicient  motor  system  and 
which  are  usually  "  adaptive  "  to  certain  ends.  He  also  insists  upon 
the  necessity  of  differentiating  an  instinct  as  an  "  external  activity," 
a  function  of  the  projicient  sensori-motor  system,  from  an  "internal 
physiological  process."  The  internal  physiological  process  is  re- 
ferred to  certain  functions  of  the  visceral  sensori-motor  system 
which  he  differentiates  from  the  somatic  sensori-motor  system. 

Judd  (26,  p.  213)  says:  "Coordinated  activities  of  the  muscles 
provided  for  in  the  inherited  structure  of  the  nervous  system,  are 
called  instincts."  The  muscles  are  not  specified  as  to  whether  they 
are  the  striped  or  unstriped  systems  or  both.  He  explains  the  in- 
stinctive motor  phenomena  entirely  through  the  existence  of  phylo- 
genetically associated  neurones  and  seems  to  assume  a  predeter- 
mined arrangement  of  neurones  as  a  basis  for  the  instinctive  reac- 
tion. 

Angell  (21,  p.  339)  says:  "Instincts  have  an  origin  unquestion- 
ably similar  to  reflexes.  ...  It  is  impossible  to  draw  a  sharp  line 
between  them."  He  also  depends  upon  a  phylogenetic  association 
of  the  neurones  and  the  impulsive  or  reflex  manner  in  which  this 
associated  train  of  neurones  is  started  to  work. 

Pillsbury  (27,  p.  425)  says:  "The  term  instinct  is  used  to  indicate 


76  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

all  acts  whose  conditions  are  inherited.  It  matters  not  whether 
those  acts  may  be  referred  to  specific  inherited  connections  in  the 
nervous  system  or  whether  the  act  is  the  result  of  striving  for  an 
end  which  some  innate  predisposition  compels  the  individual  to  strive 
for,  and  whose  attainment  gives  pleasure."  (Italics  mine.)  This 
sweeping  inclusion  of  all  those  motor  functions  whose  conditions 
are  inherited  fails  to  differentiate,  as  an  instinct,  the  digestive  func- 
tions from  the  pecking  functions,  in  the  behavior  of  the  newborn 
chick..  Such  formulations  are  also  unsatisfactory  because  they  de- 
pend entirely  for  the  dynamic  source  of  behavior  upon  a  predeter- 
mined static  type  of  arrangement  of  neurones. 

In  the  sense  that  the  newborn  chick  pecks  with  the  point  of  its 
beak  and  does  not  put  the  food  into  its  mouth  with  its  foot  or  wing, 
its  projicient  motor  functions  are  perhaps  to  be  considered  as  coor- 
dinated through  phylogenetic  or  congenital  associations,  but  in  the 
pecking  act,  as  a  voluntary  or  involuntary  phenomenon,  we  must 
look  for  the  source  of  the  desire  or  the  motive  for  the  act.  This 
leads  us  again  to  the  autonomic-affective  functions. 

It  will  be  seen  upon  an  extensive  review  of  the  conceptions  of 
emotions  and  instincts  that  the  division  of  an  individual's  behavior 
into  functions  of  the  autonomic  and  projicient  sensori-motor  systems 
is  a  step  toward  formulating  a  more  simple,  more  dynamic  compre- 
hension of  an  organism's  behavior  by  following  the  tendency  of 
academic  psychology,  but  adhering  more  definitely  to  the  autonomic 
(affective)  domination  of  projicient  (instinctive)  movements.  This 
behavioristic  formulation  is  also  far  more  consistent  with  the  or- 
ganic functions  and  structure  of  the  organism. 

McDougall  (28,  p.  26)  says  that  "every  instance  of  instinctive 
behavior  involves  (i)  a  knowing  of  some  thing  or  object,  (2)  a 
feeling  in  regard  to  it,  and  (3)  a  striving  towards  or  away  from 
the  object"  which  he  calls  (i)  the  cognitive,  (2)  the  affective,  and 
(3)  the  conative  aspects  of  an  instinctive  act. 

McDougall  (28,  p.  28)  identifies  the  affective  aspect  with  emo- 
tions ;  "  each  kind  of  instinctive  behavior  is  always  attended  by 
some  such  emotional  excitement,  however  faint,  which  in  each  case 
is  specific  or  peculiar  to  that  kind  of  behavior."  The  specific  nature 
of  the  emotional  excitement  for  certain  instinctive  reactions  is  es- 
sential to  McDougall's  theory. 

He  does  not,  however,  attach  to  the  affective  element  any  dy- 
namic properties  and  does  not  attribute  a  definite  relation  of  the 
conative  strivings  to  the  affective  reactions  except  that  the  conative 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE  FUNCTIONS   UPON   BEHAVIOR  77 

efforts  are  a  striving  towards  or  away  from  the  object,  but,  it  seems 
to  me,  he  offers  no  explanation  why. 

"  Each  of  the  principal  instincts  (28,  p.  47)  conditions  some  one 
kind  of  emotional  excitement  whose  quality  is  specific  or  peculiar 
to  it;  and  the  emotional  excitement  of  specific  quality  that  is  the 
affective  aspect  of  the  operation  of  any  one  of  the  principal  in- 
stincts, may  be  called  a  primary  emotion,"  "  The  affective  quality 
of  each  instinctive  process  (28,  p.  46)  and  the  sum  of  visceral  and 
bodily  changes  in  which  it  expresses  itself  are  peculiar  and  distinct." 
These  opinions  of  McDougall  give  one  the  impression  that  emotions 
are  considered  to  be  subservient  to  instincts. 

My  dynamic  theory  is  based  upon  the  same  physiological  prin- 
ciple that  is  demonstrated  in  local  anesthesia,  wherein  the  part  is 
not  retracted  (flight)  when  injured  because  it  causes  no  painful 
disturbance.  If  a  means  could  be  devised  wherein  a  local  anesthesia 
could  prevent  the  spasmodic  adjustment  of  the  diaphragm  and 
viscera  from  producing  feelings  of  fear  (upon  injury)  the  animal 
would  not  flee  or  feel  any  fear.  In  men  who  feel  no  fear  in  a  dan- 
gerous situation  we  find  no  evidence  of  autonomic  disturbance  and 
in  men  who  do  feel  fear  a  marked  autonomic  disturbance  is  observ- 
able and  this  is  what  they  really  flee  from  or  try  to  prevent,  and 
this  process  is  active  before  the  perception  of  dangerousness  exists. 
The  researches  of  Cannon  and  Sherrington,  which  have  been  so 
extensively  cited,  demonstrate  the  peripheral  origin  of  the  affections, 
as  in  hungriness,  the  desire  to  urinate,  sexual  craving,  etc. 

Watson  ( 10,  p.  106)  says  "  an  instinct  is  a  series  of  concatenated 
reflexes.  The  order  of  the  unfolding  of  the  separate  elements  is  a 
strictly  heritable  character.  Instincts  are  thus  rightly  said  to  be 
phylogenetic  modes  of  response  (as  contrasted  with  habit,  which 
is  acquired  during  the  lifetime  of  the  individual).  Such  a  series 
of  reflexes,  or  an  instinct,  is  best  illustrated  by  the  young  bird's 
egress  from  the  egg,  and  its  later  attempt  at  building  a  first  nest." 

This  conception  of. an  instinct  includes  the  activities  of  the  auto- 
nomic system  as  well  as  the  cerebrospinal  or  projicient  and  is  as 
inclusive  as  MacDougall's  conception.  It  places  no  emphasis  on  the 
dynamic  importance  of  the  affective  factor. 

In  his  discussion  of  affection  as  a  form  of  instinctive  behavior 
Watson  (10,  p.  24)  details  the  neurophysiological  mechanism  of  sex 
excitement.  He  traces  from  the  sex  changes  in  the  circulatory, 
glandular,  secretory  and  muscular  mechanism  afferent  impulses — 
"which  upon  reaching  the  motor  centers  produce  the  actual  seek- 


78  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

ing  movements  in  the  striped  muscles."  The  afferent  impulses  are 
"the  bodily  substrata  of  the  emotion  of  pleasantness."  This  is  es- 
sentially the  mechanism  of  my  dynamic  theory  if  to  it  is  added  that 
important  factor  that  the  skeletal  muscles  are  compelled  to  expose 
the  proper  sense  orgaipis  to  appropriate  stimulation  so  that  the  af- 
fective or  autonomic  disturbance  will  be  neutralized.  The  process 
of  neutralisation  of  the  affective  disturbance  is  the  dynamic  prin- 
ciple underlying  all  behavior  and  not  the  inherently  concatenated 
series  of  reflexes.  Watson's  simplification  of  the  organic  machine 
into  a  problem  of  stimulus  and  receptor-effector  response  seems  to 
have  obscured  the  importance  of  the  affective  mechanisms.  \ 

Holt  (29,  p.  98)  in  his  discussion  of  the  physiology  of  the  wish 
says  "  thought  is  latent  course  of  action  with  regard  to  environment 
(t.  e.,  is  motor  setting),  or  a  procession  of  such  attitudes."  "Will 
is  also  course  of  action  with  regard  to  environment,  so  that  the  only 
difference  between  thought  and  volition  is  one  of  the  intensity  of 
nerve  impulse  that  plays  through  the  sensori-motor  arcs."  "  Thought 
is  the  preceding  labile  interplay  of  motor  settings  which  goes  on 
almost  constantly."  In  "wish  or  function  we  have  the  pure  es- 
sence of  human  will  and  of  the  soul  itself.  No  distinction  can 
be  found  between  function,  wish  and  purpose."  The  wish  is  "a 
course  of  action  which  the  body  takes  or  is  prepared  (by  motor  set) 
to  take  with  reference  to  objects  "  (29,  p.  94). 

ZJE^olt's  conception  of  the  origin  of  the  wish,  will  emotion,  pur- 
pose, etc.,  in  the  motor  functions  does  not  specify  the  autonomic 
sensori-motor  functions,  but  his  discussion  hardly  leaves  any  other 
inference.  His  definition  of  thought  as  the  preceding  labile  inter- 
play of  motor  settings  certainly  must  be  the  same  as  the  kinesthetic 
stream  arising  from  the  postural  tonus  of  the  skeletal  muscles,  as 
they  react  to  the  afferent  influences  arising  from  the  autonomic 
sensori-motor  or  affective  changes.  Herein  we  have  a  physiological 
explanation  of  the  wish  determining  the  thought — the  affective 
craving  being  the  wish  or  dynamic  principle.\ 

CMy  theory  maintains  that  the  movements  of  the  projicient  sen- 
sori-motor system  are  compelled  by  the  affective  disturbances  and 
become  a  means  to  acquire  stimuli  which  will  reestablish  a  com- 
fortable affective  state.  The  status  of  affective  rest  is  the  end  state 
of  the  dynamic  striving,  if  the  unsuitable  term  'end'  may  be  used 

McDougall  and  other  psychologists  have  not  mentioned  this  self- 
neutralization  principle  of  the  affective  compulsion. 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE  FUNCTIONS   UPON   BEHAVIOR  79 

Characteristic  Affective  States  and  Their  Influence  on  Behavior 

The  description  of  symptoms  of  affective  cravings  or  emotions 
has  been  unprofitably  overdone  by  psychology  and  psychiatry  and 
is  not  desirable  here.  The  dynamic  aspect  of  affective  states  only 
are  discussed  in  the  following. 

Affective  reactions  may  be  looked  upon  as  largely  autonomic 
postures  in  which  the  entire  autonomic  apparatus  may  play  a  part, 
although  the  actual  feelings  at  first  seem  to  emanate  from  one  re- 
ceptor area,  as  hunger,  nausea  or  disgust  starts  in  the  epigastric 
region.  Continued  hunger  may  become  associated  with  feelings  of 
weakness,  headache,  irritability,  etc.  It  has  long  been  recognized 
that  one  characteristic  affective  state  may  become  adulterated  by 
another  and  even  obscured  by  a  second  or  third  superimposed  reac- 
tion. 

The  biological  career  of  the  autonomic  apparatus,  considering 
the  organs  it  has  gradually  evolved  through  specialization  of  its 
functions,  is,  imperatively,  to  preserve  and  reproduce  itself.  The 
dynamic  organism  has  grown  from  one  functional  stage  to  another. 
It  is  constantly  exerting  pressure  upon  the  environment,  upon  which 
it  must  maintain  itself,  in  order  to  fulfill  its  biological  decree. 
Hence  its  more  simple  reactions  tend  to  be  comparatively  temporary 
unless  the  affective  reactions  should  become  conditioned  to  react 
to  something  which  is  constantly  in  the  environment,  as  fear  of 
arrest  for  a  crime,  or  censureship  for  a  wrong,  loss  of  position  for 
insubordination,  etc. 

The  affective  reactions  of  fear  and  its  variations  as  shame, 
sorrow,  disgust,  anxiety,  anguish,  sadness,  jealousy,  pity  and  meek- 
ness, are  all  due  to  some  kind  of  noxious  stimulus  and  exist  so 
long  as  the  organism  fails  to  protect  itself.^ 

Forms  of  rage,  such  as  anger,  hatred,  indignation,  which  are 
principally  variations  in  intensity,  are  all  compensatory  protective 
reactions  following  the  fear  reaction  caused  by  a  painful  stimulus. 

The  pain  stimulus  may  arise  from  within  the  individual  (as  un- 
skillfulness)  as  well  as  from  the  environment  (insurmountable  re- 
sistance). 

Fear. — The  fear  reactiotis  always  tend  to  remove  the  receptor 
from  the  painful  stimulus  and  continue  the  retraction  until  the  or- 
ganism has  succeeded  in  obtaining  neutralizing  stimuli  for  its  re- 
ceptors.    Many  animals  when  frightened  dash  into  a  familiar  hole 

1  Watson,  J.  B.  (30,  p.  165),  suggests  that  fear  and  rage  and  love  in  the 
Freudian  sense  are  the  fundamental  affective  reactions  to  be  found  in  the 
infant. 


80  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

which  cuts  off  the  painful  stimuli  and  immerses  the  receptors  in 
comfort-giving  stimuli.  Birds  and  many  animals  depend  upon  weak- 
ening the  stimulus  through  interposing  distance.  Young  animals 
not  having  the  power  to  escape,  often  go  into  catatonic-like  states 
in  which  the  posture,  drooping  ears,  diverted  or  closed  eyes  indi- 
cate an  affective  flight  within  the  organism  away  from  the  pain- 
giving  receptors,  thereby  increasing  the  affective  reaction  threshold 
to  the  stimulus.  For  the  criminal  to  faint  when  being  executed  is 
popularly  regarded  as  a  form  of  escape  or  cowardice. 

Puppies,  young  monkeys  and  other  animals  when  frightened  by 
the  threatening  posture  of  a  more  powerful  animal  of  the  same 
species  often  assume  a  state  of  complete  submission  with  exposure 
of  the  throat,  abdomen  and  vital  organs  to  assault  without  signs  of 
defense.  This  helpless  posture  of  the  young  seems  to  relax  the  ag- 
gressive posture  of  the  adult  because  it  is  made  excessive  by  the 
complete  submission.  Terror  and  panic  are  extreme  forms  of  fear 
in  which  the  organism  cannot  make  well  coordinated  efforts  to 
escape. 

Anger. — Forms  of  anger  {indignation,  hate,  rage)  always  tend 
to  remove  the  painful  stimulus  from  the  receptor  and  continue  to  do 
so  until  the  stimulus  is  sufficiently  altered  so  that  it  no  longer  is  a 
potential  threat,  hut  is  harmless.  The  removal  may  be  effected  by 
driving  it  from  the  environment,  destroying  its  consistency,  or,  if  it 
is  a  threatening  posture  in  another  animal,  the  removal  may  consist 
of  merely  changing  the  aggressive  posture  of  the  opponent  into  a 
submissive  one.  In  the  social  relations  of  man  this  assumes  inter- 
esting forms  to  be  found  in  requirements  for  subordination,  retrac- 
tions, apologies,  "the  last  word,"  bluffing,  slander,  subtle  domina- 
tions, etc.,  obtained  by  overt  or  implied  threats. 

Anger  may  be  directed  upon  a  disagreeable  habit  and  lead  to 
severe  self-mutilations  to  destroy  the  habit  because  it  is  a  form  of 
painful  stimulus — as  self-castration  for  masturbation. 

The  motive  for  the  destruction  of  the  painful  stimulus  may 
not  be  obvious  in  a  man's  reactions  until  an  analysis  is  made  of  a 
situation.  For  example,  a  physician's  daughter  (age  three)  disap- 
peared in  the  wooded  grounds  of  an  asylum  where  many  insane 
men  and  women  had  the  freedom  of  the  grounds.  The  father  of 
the  little  girl  with  several  other  physicians  were  about  to  start  a 
game  of  tennis  when  the  child  was  missed.  A  general  search  was 
immediately  started.  We  all  showed  unmistakable  evidence  of  fear 
reactions  in  our  facial  pallor  and  tense  looks.  The  common  cause 
of  the  fear  was  the  possible  seduction  of  the  child.    Being  inter- 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE  FUNCTIONS   UPON  BEHAVIOR  8 1 

ested  at  the  time  in  the  compulsions  arising  from  affective  disturb- 
ances I  analyzed  my  reactions.  What  I  called  fear  was  caused 
largely  by  a  seemingly  continuous  very  uncomfortable  stream  of 
sensations  located  about  the  epigastrium  and  stomach  which  had  to 
be  removed.  Although  it  apparently  did  not  inhibit  my  breathing  I 
could  not  easily  vary  the  amplitude  of  inspiration  or  expiration. 
Something  like  a  static  diaphragmatic  posture  or  tension  resisted  it. 
Only  one  thing  could  remove  it — the  acquisition  of  the  child — safe. 

As  I  hurried  through  the  ravine  fancies  of  myself  encountering 
the  assailant  were  already  preceding  the  reality  and  the  compen- 
satory nature  of  the  preparation  for  the  encounter  was  decidedly 
that  of  anger.  Additional  fear  reactions,  caused  by  the  unknown 
nature  of  the  offender,  necessitated  that  the  compensatory  angry 
compulsion  to  punish  (or  destroy  or  capture  would  be  a  potential 
punishment  also)  should  become  intensified. 

When  I  had  passed  through  the  ravine  and  came  out  onto  the 
open  grounds  the  secluded  back  of  a  building  suggested  a  possible 
hiding  place  of  the  child.  Visions  of  a  possible  fight  faded  away, 
and  as  I  hurried  along  visual  images  of  children  mischievously  hid- 
ing from  their  parents  were  presented  by  the  shifting  affective 
state. 

Now  the  blame  for  the  painful  fear  reactions  was  quickly  shifted 
upon  the  child  herself  and  anger  began  to  attack  the  child  with 
fancies  of  punishing  her.  Since  she  was  not  my  child  other  affec- 
tive inhibitions  urged  a  compromise  by  suggesting  that  she  should 
be  punished  for  running  away  and  causing  so  much  discomfort, 
so  that  it  would  not  be  repeated  (herein  lies  the  angry  destruc- 
tion of  the  painful  stimulus).  But  the  age  of  the  child  made  her 
irresponsible  and  so  the  anger,  which  would  by  this  time  have  rel- 
ished giving  punishment,  again  had  to  be  diverted.  I  was  now 
joined  by  the  father  and  naturally  he  said  something  about  insane 
patients  and  children,  and  wandering  children.  A  minute  later  we 
rounded  the  corner  of  a  building  and  there  we  found  the  children 
playing  with  some  of  the  women  who  had  started  in  the  searching 
party.  The  next  thing  said  by  one  woman,  after  she  explained 
where  the  children  had  been,  was  that  she  thought  they  should  not 
be  punished,  for  they  were  entirely  innocent,  having  merely  taken  a 
walk  with  one  of  the  women.  Evidently  this  was  the  woman's 
answer  to  her  own  anger  and  tendencies  to  punish  as  well  as  ours. 

All  such  situations  are  composites  of  numerous  stimuli  and 
pass  through  a  series  of  transitions.     Our  affective  reactions  occur 


82  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

reflexly.  I  was  clearly  aware  of  fear  being  superimposed  by  pro- 
tective anger  which  would  prevent  a  recurrence  of  its  cause. 

After  the  tennis  game  several  players  commented,  that  the  "  ex- 
citement" had  spoiled  the  tennis  playing.  In  myself  it  seemed  as 
if  the  anger  had  not  had  time  to  be  assimilated  and  it  caused  inco- 
ordinations which  showed  in  my  own  difficulty  to  concentrate  on  the 
game. 

Anger  is  essentially  destructive,  although  it  may  be  elaborately 
and  persistently  constructive  in  order  to  ultimately  attain  the  satis- 
faction to  be  derived  from  the  destruction  of  an  object  or  some 
person's  atitude.  A  man  may  work  for  half  a  century  to  acquire  a 
fortune  or  reputation  in  order  to  ultimately  wring  a  submission 
from  some  one.  Anger  has  a  tremendously  aggressive  value  if  its 
energies  are  so  controlled  by  other  emotions  that  it  must  expend 
itself  through  constructive  work. 

Self-protective  anger  may  be  aroused  by  the  discomfort  result- 
ing from  any  affective  craving  failing  to  acquire  necessary  stimuli. 
This  additional  aggressive  component  may  then  make  the  acquisi- 
tion possible  by  overpowering  the  resistance. 

We  speak  of  expending  our  anger,  or  letting  it  out,  as  if  the  chief 
pleasure  resulted  in  giving  it  free  play  or  projecting  it.  This  is  in 
a  sense  true,  but  in  the  loudly,  harshly  spoken  phrases  is  the  need 
of  having  the  victim  react  with  discomfort  (pain)  to  the  phrase. 
Often  a  medium  is  depended  upon  to  transmit  the  evidence  of  our 
feelings.  The  mere  emission  of  the  hostile  phrase  is  evidently  tn- 
sufficient  because  of  the  tendency  of  hatred  to  continue  uncom- 
fortably within  us  whenever  we  fail  "  to  get  satisfaction."  The  in- 
difference of  the  object  for  our  anger  is  torturing.  Few  people, 
however,  are  highly  enough  integrated  to  take  advantage  of  the 
value  of  indifference  to  an  assailant's  anger. 

Shame  is  a  type  of  fear  reaction  (a  retraction)  caused  by  the 
misapplication  of  stimulus  and  receptor  for  which  is  felt  a  certain 
responsibility,  as  in  error,  stealing,  lying,  perversions,  etc.  The  pro- 
tective compensation  for  shame  is  in  escape  or  flight  through  re- 
pression (forgetting)  the  experience,  or  compensatory  atonement. 
This  entails  a  form  of  functional  castration  in  that,  after  affective 
shame  repressions  are  made,  the  personality  no  longer  has  free  use 
of  the  experiences  or  affections  that  led  to  the  shame  experience. 
This  may  have  a  beneficial  or  detrimental  influence.  It  may  be  acci- 
dently  instrumental  later  in  successful  reactions  because  of  ability 
gained  through  compensatory  striving,  or  it  may  lead  to  excessive 
timidity  and  failure. 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE   FUNCTIONS   UPON  BEHAVIOR  83 

Disgust  seems  to  include  elements  of  fear  and  anger  reactions 
and  is  caused  by  the  gastrointestinal  defensive-emissive  movements. 
When  we  feel  disgusted  with  the  appearance  or  behavior  of  anyone, 
the  attribute  of  wasted  material  or  wasted  energy  is  in  some  manner 
included  in  the  appearance  or  behavior  (inefficiency)  of  the  indi- 
vidual. Efficiency  never  arouses  disgust.  It  always  arouses  ad- 
miration, even  in  an  enemy;  whereas  inefficiency  tends  to  arouse 
disgust,  even  in  a  friend  who  of  course  compensates  by  making  sym- 
pathetic demonstrations. 

That  contempt  for  inefficiency,  extravagance  and  wastefulness 
should  be  associated  with  spitting,  vomiting  (nausea  and  disgust), 
urination,  defecation  or  purulent  discharges  is  obvious.  Olfactory, 
gustatory,  visual,  auditory  or  tactile  stimuli  may,  by  association  with 
waste  material,  arouse  emissive  reactions  and  are  spoken  of  as  dis- 
gusting.    (See  conditioning  of  affective  reactions.) 

The  expression  of  disgust,  through  overt  emissive  movements  or 
implied  emissive  feelings  in  the  adjectives  attributed  to  an  object, 
may  be  illustrated  by  a  young  woman,  who  in  expressing  her  dis- 
gust and  contempt  for  the  behavior  of  another  person,  reflexly  made 
vomiting  noises  and  movements  in  association  with  the  words  de- 
claring disgust.  One  not  infrequently  hears  phrases  comparing  or 
associating  some  work  or  person  with  excreta,  as  expressions  of  dis- 
gust for  the  work. 

In  the  emission  of  the  stimulus,  casting  it  off  from  the  organism, 
is  to  be  seen  a  type  of  anger  reaction.  In  misers  and  those  types 
of  epileptics  who  are  anal  erotic,  one  finds  a  deep  chronic  hatred 
for  the  constructive  interests  of  society.  (The  compensatory  affec- 
tive reaction  for  disgusting,  wasteful  tendencies  in  the  self  or  in 
society  is  the  development  of  system,  conservation,  hoarding,  and 
scrupulous  cleanliness.) 

Sorrow  is  a  form  of  fear  reaction  caused  by  the  loss  of  a 
pleasure-giving  stimulus;  that  is,  the  inability  to  retain  or  expose 
the  receptor  to  the  lost  stimulus.  The  compensatory  striving  is 
obviously  for  the  acquisition  of  another  pleasure-giving  stimulus. 

Joy  is  an  affective  state  caused  either  by  the  disappearance  of  a 
potential  pain  stimulus  or  the  acquisition  of  a  positive  pleasure 
stimulus.  The  disappearance  of  a  pain  stimulus  is  reciprocally  fol- 
lowed by  the  acquisition  of  a  returning  pleasing  autonomic  status. 

Anguish  is  a  complex  affective  reaction  which  seems  to  contain 
traits  of  fear,  shame,  sorrow  and  anger  reactions.  A  girl  who  spoke 
of  her  emotional  state  as  "  anguish,"  which  endured  for  weeks,  said 
it  was  due  to  her  selfishness  and  masturbation  (shame),  which  she 


84  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

imagined  was  causing  the  death  of  her  family  (fear).  She  wept 
bitterly  (sorrow)  for  her  wrongs,  and  seemed  to  become,  at  times, 
desperately  angry  at  the  habit  she  was  trying  to  destroy.  In  an- 
guish, there  seems  to  exist  a  serious  anger  reaction,  which  is  turned 
upon  the  self,  because,  in  some  manner,  the  self  is  partly  respon- 
sible for  the  failure.  In  such  cases,  sorrow  is  not  directly  the  result 
of  masturbation,  but  the  result  of  waste,  for  having  lost  a  sense  of 
refinement,  dignity  and  self-confidence,  through  the  misapplication 
of  receptor  and  stimulus. 

Love  is  essentially  a  form  of  affective  hunger  and  in  man  at 
least,  like  hunger,  tends  to  be  consistently  recurrent.  Its  dynamic 
pressure  is  almost  constantly  felt  in  some  form  and  its  influence  upon 
behavior,  when  unadulterated,  is  reproductive,  constructive,  creative. 
Repression  of  love  reduces  creativeness.  Its  genesis,  like  food 
hunger,  is  dependent  upon  the  metabolic  (reproductive)  functions 
as  well  as  the  environmental  stimuli  in  the  sense  that,  like  food- 
hunger,  love  hunger  may  be  felt  in  a  completely  neutral  environ- 
ment which  is  not  characteristic  of  other  affective  reactions.  Love 
demonstrates  its  constructiveness  in  reproduction  and  maintenance 
of  the  species,  race,  clan,  community,  religion,  family,  business, 
reputation,  etc.  It  is  the  urge  behind  the  progress  of  civilization. 
Although  many  of  the  progressive  innovations  of  civilization  are 
the  creations  of  anger  they  have  been  cherished  and  retained  by 
Jove  of  efficiency  and  progressive  refinement. 

Love,  as  an  affective  state,  causes  intense  suffering  (fear)  if  the 
organism  is  unable  to  acquire  or  retain  a  suitable  love-object.  Like 
all  other  affective  reactions  it  becomes  conditioned  to  respond  to 
certain  stimuli  of  certain  receptor  zones,  which  in  some  individuals 
may  differ  grossly  from  the  normal,  gradually  requiring  almost  spe- 
cifically defined  stimuli  to  produce  a  state  of  affective  comfort.  In 
these  needs  it  exerts  a  marked  acquisitive  and  avertive  influence 
upon  the  attitude  of  the  personality  toward  the  environment.  The 
same  principle  of  the  affective  state  acquiring  a  comfort-giving 
stimulus  for  itself  is  seen  when  the  mother  is  horrified  by  her  dirty 
child,  then  cleans,  pets  and  dresses  it  until  its  status  delights  her,  or 
the  mother  cat  caresses  its  kitten  into  relaxation  or  nurses  it  to 
sleep ;  or  in  the  loyal  sacrifice  in  order  to  further  a  cause  or  attain 
an  end — for  honor,  which  however  must  not  be  admitted,  for  then 
the  sacrifice  would  be  selfish. 

It  has  been  noted  that  objects  that  pertain  to  the  waste  of  foods, 
energy  or  time,  etc.,  arouse  feelings  of  disgust,  and  we  give  them  de- 
scriptive adjectives  that  have  an  origin  in  the  emissive  functions. 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE  FUNCTIONS   UPON  BEHAVIOR  85 

as  "rotten,"  "dirty  deal,"  "putrid,"  "foul."  On  the  other  hand 
objects  that  give  us  delightful  stimuli,  which  we  like  to  assimilate, 
are  given  descriptive  terms,  such  as  sweet,  good,  wholesome,  etc., 
expressing  the  assimilative  reactions  they  arouse  in  us.  Girls  like 
to  speak  of  sweet  colors  or  sweet  dresses  because  their  "mouths 
water  "  when  they  look  at  them. 

If  a  buyer  or  seller,  while  bartering,  is  unable  to  prevent  the 
prospective  fulfillment  of  his  own  wish  from  making  his  salivary 
glands  secrete  ("mouth  water")  the  party,  whose  consent  to  the 
trade  is  necessary,  becomes  suspicious  that  he  himself  is  abandoning 
a  tempting  morsel  and  reacts  with  fear  of  making  a  losing  deal. 

Jealousy  and  envy  are  mixed  affective  reactions  of  pride,  love, 
fear  and  anger.  The  loss  of  the  love  object  causes  pain  and  fear 
with  feelings  of  inferiority,  and  anger  tends  to  punish  the  cause  of 
the  pain. 

In  the  above  discussion  of  the  dynamic  compulsion  of  an  affec- 
tive state  upon  the  organism  to  acquire  suitable  stimuli  and  avoid  un- 
suitable stimuli  the  term  instinct  was  found  unsatisfactory  in  the 
sense  of  fear  arousing  the  instinct  to  flee.  If  an  instinct  is  a  series 
of  concatenated  reflexes,  the  variations  of  the  reflexes  used  in  flight 
are  so  enormous  that  the  term  (as  an  inherent  concatenation)  is  not 
accurate  enough.  We  may  have  very  similar  overt  movements  in 
flight,  attack  or  play.  It  seems  more  satisfactory  to  speak  of  the 
compulsion  to  acquire  neutralizing  stimuli,  thereby  recognizing  the 
variation  of  movements  for  acquisition  and  aversion. 

Since  acquisitive  and  avertive  tendencies  toward  the  useful  and 
useless  stimuli  in  the  environment  are  constant  attributes  of  every 
affective  state,  and  since  we  may  have  a  quite  complex  affective 
status  at  one  time,  the  complicated  nature  of  even  ordinary  spon- 
taneous behavior  is  apparent.  The  behavior  observed  at  any  period 
is  the  resultant  or  compromise  of  the  various  affective  trends  active 
at  the  moment  and  is  always  symptomntic  of  the  affective  state. 

Studies  in  psychopathology  have  shown  that  not  only  does  the 
affective  status  avoid  or  use  things  in  the  environment  but  it  also 
tends  to  avoid  or  use  certain  divisions  or  functions  of  the  projicient 
sensori-motor  system.  For  example:  Some  people  live  mostly  in 
their  flexor  (submissive)  and  others  in  their  extensor  (aggressive) 
muscles.  Awkward  people  tend  to  avoid  muscular  exercises  because 
of  fear  of  embarrassment.  Early  in  life  we  tend  to  specialize  on 
relatively  a  few  skillful  movements  and  avoid  developing  others  in 
order  not  to  betray  our  functional  or  organic  inferiorities.  Since 
the  tendency  to  perfection  comes  only  with  practice  most  individuals 


86  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

become  victims  of  a  vicious  circle.  Congenital  defect  or  inferior 
organic  construction  may  increase  the  tendency  to  disuse,  hence  it 
increases  the  inferiority  (31).  Fear  of  using  a  function  or  of  per- 
mitting an  affective  reaction  free  play  constitutes  an  inferiority  as 
well.  Fear  of  allowing  love  free  expression  tends  to  inhibit  crea- 
tiveness.  This  is  essentially  the  mechanism  of  biological  impotence 
to  be  seen  almost  universally  in  males  who  have  been  intimidated 
in  their  youth  by  older  females  or  males.  Frequently  a  hatred  com- 
pensation is  developed  as  a  protection  in  order  to  use  its  additional 
energy  to  overcome  the  social  resistance  and  timidity. 

Affective  aversion  for  an  organ  or  a  sensori-motor  division  tends 
to  cause  its  atrophy  through  disuse  and  makes  it  become  a  poten- 
tial source  of  disease,  as  functional  paralyses,  or  phthisical  chest 
of  the  timid  and  seclusive,  liability  to  failure  or  injury  in  the  timid. 

We  see  this  aversion  also  in  affective  resistances  producing  an- 
esthesias of  any  receptor  field,  disuse  of  any  motor  division,  inhi- 
bition of  visceral  functions.  On  the  other  hand  affective  acquisitive- 
ness may  cause  a  painful  hyperacuity  of  a  receptor  field  or  hyper- 
trophy of  motor  divisions.  The  same  principles  are  manifested  in 
our  aversions  or  preferences  for  names,  words,  phrases,  languages, 
studies,  vocations,  communities,  lines  of  travel,  hobbies,  people,  dress, 
mannerisms,  politics,  religions,  etc. 

The  affective  dispositions  of  most  people  are  usually  not  so 
complex  that  the  principal  trends  are  not  symptomatically  apparent. 
We  read  them  in  the  postural  tonus  of  the  muscles  of  the  face  and 
body.  Smiles,  looks,  frowns,  scowls,  lines,  the  contour  of  the  nose, 
lips,  chin,  the  muscles  about  the  eye,  the  mannerisms  of  the  eye, 
furrows  between  the  eyes,  tilt  of  the  head,  posture  of  the  shoulders, 
mannerisms  of  the  hands,  the  grip,  fingers,  the  style  of  the  nails, 
the  stride,  the  sound  made  by  the  foot,  the  voice,  dress,  style  of 
phrases  and  general  interests  are  manifestations  of  the  postural 
muscle  tonus  which  has  its  dynamic  determinant  in  the  autonomic 
posture  or  affective  disposition  of  the  individual. 

Instantly  the  postural  tonus  varies  as  the  affective  disposition 
varies.  This  is  best  illustrated  in  accidents.  A  man,  while  shaving, 
was  holding  an  open  razor  in  his  hand,  a  remark  by  a  companion 
caught  his  attention  and  the  razor  dropped.  As  it  was  approaching 
the  floor  he  reflexly  made  a  dangerous  grab  for  it.  The  postural 
muscle  tonus  that  held  the  razor  in  a  light  grip  was  determined  by 
an  affective  state.  The  remark  caused  a  disturbance  of  his  affective 
tension,  the  postural  tonus  of  the  fingers  reflexly  relaxed  slightly  and 
gravity  instantly  pulled  the  razor  out.     A  butcher  was  pressing  the 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE  FUNCTIONS   UPON  BEHAVIOR  87 

point  of  a  heavy  knife  into  a  joint  of  beef  to  dismember  it.  He  was 
brooding  at  the  time  over  the  remark  of  his  superior  in  charge. 
A  remark  of  some  one  caught  his  attention,  the  postural  tonus  of 
the  gripping  hand  was  relaxed  slightly  for  an  instant,  but  sufficiently 
for  the  downward  pressure  of  the  arm  to  force  the  fingers  off  the 
handle  and  down  the  knife  blade.  He  received  a  disastrous  slash 
in  the  hand. 

A  manufacturer  informed  me  of  the  following  accident.  His 
most  reliable  planer  had  his  hand  torn  off  in  a  machine.  This 
man  had  the  reputation  of  never  having  had  an  accident  during  many 
years  of  service.  The  night  before  his  wife  had  gone  on  an  escapade 
with  another  man. 

In  vocations  and  games  requiring  accurate,  delicate,  skillful  co- 
ordinations, such  as  golf,  tennis,  shooting,  aviation,  etc.,  the  proper 
postural  setting  of  the  muscles  ("good  form")  are  recognized  to 
be  of  the  utmost  importance  and  are  impossible  to  maintain  when 
one  is  distracted  by  affective  disturbances. 

The  posture  of  the  ambling,  lolling,  lazy,  indifferent  man  is  in 
marked  contradistinction  to  the  tense,  erect,  stiff  figure  of  the  sensi- 
tive, proud,  ambitious,  striving  man.  The  feelings  of  muscular 
weakness  and  loss  of  muscle  tone  in  the  fearful,  and  the  firm  muscle 
tone  and  feelings  of  power  in  the  confident  are  further  examples. 

The  postural  tonus  of  the  handshake  may  reveal  the  insincerity 
of  the  greeting  by  its  flabbiness,  quick  withdrawal,  slight  push,  over- 
compensatory  tenseness,  etc.  The  smile  of  a  supposedly  pleasant 
welcome  may  reveal  signs  of  effort  or  an  ominous  exposure  of  the 
incisors,  because  with  the  desire  to  extend  a  welcome  is  active  irre- 
pressible unwelcoming  affectivity. 

The  aggressive  pose  of  anger,  the  timid  retractiveness  of  fear, 
the  spontaneity  and  exuberance  of  joy,  the  retarded  movements  of 
depression,  the  relaxation  of  indifference,  the  set  of  attentiveness 
are  further  illustrations  of  the  postural  tonus  of  the  skeletal  muscles 
as  determined  by  the  autonomic-affective  state. 

The  extreme  delicateness  or  sensitiveness  with  which  postural 
tensions  react  to  stimuli  is  well  illustrated  by  the  manner  in  which 
we  miss  the  subliminal  stimuli,  the  more  delicate  qualities  of  pitch, 
timbre  and  rhythm  when  listening  to  music,  if  we  cannot  adjust  our 
muscles  freely  so  they  may  assume  rhythmic  tensions  similar  to 
those  being  rendered  by  the  musician.  When  we  are  disconcerted 
by  an  uncomfortable  chair,  a  high  collar,  a  tight  shoe  or  a  dull, 
wheezy  companion,  we  are  unable  to  react  to  the  strains  of  classical 
music.     The  manner  in  which  every  individual,  who  develops  the 


88  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

capacity  to  react  to  classical  music,  goes  through  a  process  of  train- 
ing, shows  that  the  delicate,  nervous  integrations,  necessary  for  pos- 
tural reactions,  are  acquired  in  the  same  manner  that  other  skillful 
movements  are  acquired,  through  the  survival  of  the  fittest  integra- 
tions that  please  the  affective  craving  for  music. 

Hence  motifs  in  music,  not  only  become  associated  with  domi- 
nant motives  in  behavior,  but  certain  motifs  can  never  be  enjoyed 
by  certain  types  of  people  because  of  the  resistance  of  their  affective 
cravings,  considering  other  capacities  as  being  equal.  While  writ- 
ing this  part  of  the  discussion,  an  agent,  whose  business  makes  it 
necessary  for  him  to  look  up  data  in  our  office,  entered  the  room. 
He  habitually  speaks  with  a  most  unusually  cultivated,  mushy  cast 
of  voice  and  upon  almost  every  occasion  the  workers  in  the  room 
who  did  not  have  to  respond  to  his  questions  showed  unmistakable 
avertive  reactions  by  the  manner  in  which  they  twisted  in  their 
chairs.  After  the  man  left  on  this  occasion  a  general  series  of 
commentaries  verified  the  fact  that  the  mere  sound  of  his  voice  had 
aroused  wishes  (autonomic  aversions)  that  he  should  leave.  This 
unfortunately  posed  man  probably  has  suffered  intense  anxiety  to 
know  why  his  presence  causes  an  aversion  for  him  and  has  probably 
never  been  able  to  understand  the  difficulty  or  to  change  it. 

The  ability  to  read  character  varies  enormously  in  different  ob- 
servers, and  also  in  the  same  observer  at  different  times.  When  our 
wishes  persist  in  idealizing  another  person  their  deficient  traits, 
which  may  be  very  obvious  to  others,  are  persistently  overlooked. 
An  affective  resistance  in  us  makes  us  have  a  functional  anesthesia 
for  them.  On  the  other  hand,  the  analytical  cynic  does  not  neces- 
sarily make  the  best  reader  of  character,  although  he  may  be  keenly 
proficient  in  detecting  the  inferior  traits  in  his  subject,  the  wish- 
fulfillment,  in  himself,  to  see  deficiencies  in  others,  may  make  him 
anesthetic  to  the  constructive  powers  in  the  individual.  By  develop- 
ing the  capacity  of  preventing  oneself  from  making  either  positive 
or  negative  affective  transfers  to  the  individual,  and  by  carefully 
avoiding  the  subject's  endeavor  to  win  a  transfer  from  us  and  recog- 
nizing it  when  it  occurs,  we  may  be  able  to  study  an  individual's 
character  without  unduly  influencing  him  to  conceal  his  deficiencies 
or  to  overemphasize  his  powers.  In  reading  character,  the  observer 
should  maintain  a  firm  altruistic  attitude  in  himself,  so  as  to  impar- 
tially estimate  the  subject's  powers  for  social  and  personal  construc- 
tiveness,  and,  recognizing  that  always  the  individual  must  strive  to 
reform  the  more  primitively  selfish,  cruder  tendencies  in  himself, 
he  must  estimate  the  subject's  deficient  traits  with  the  object  of 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE   FUNCTIONS   UPON   BEHAVIOR  89 

learning  how  much  he  has  yet  to  accomplish — not  how  much  he  has 
failed  to  accomplish.  This  last  point  is  extremely  important,  be- 
cause the  observer,  himself,  as  an  animal  competing  in  the  universal 
struggle  for  social  power,  may  yield,  unconsciously,  to  the  temptation, 
being  an  opponent,  of  estimating  his  subject's  deficiencies  in  a  pes- 
simistic light.  Thereby,  he  would  be  subtly  relatively  elevating  his 
own  rank  in  the  social  herd,  and  his  observations  might  be  inac- 
curate. 

The  true  estimation  of  a  subject's  affective  responses,  for  ex- 
ample, when  he  spontaneously  shows  that  he  is  pleased,  depends 
upon  seeing  how  gently  or  spontaneously  he  exposes  his  teeth.  It  is 
most  important  to  recognize  the  nature  of  the  tension  in  the  posture 
of  the  lips. 

Let  us  take  a  smile  and  analyze  its  affective  significance.  It  is 
one  of  the  most  observable  manifestations  of  the  affective  state  of 
the  individual  and  is  far  from  being  simple,  unless  camouflaged 
behind  a  mass  of  hair.  One  thing  to  be  estimated  is,  how  much 
too  much  or  how  much  too  little  does  the  individual  habitually  use 
his  lips  to  mask  his  more  sincere  affective  reactions.  One  thing  is 
certain,  most  individuals  can  only  afford  to  hide  their  selfish  interests 
or  asocial  reactions.  We  are  glad,  indeed,  to  permit  our  altruistic 
impulses  to  show  themselves,  when  we  have  them,  because  they  have 
everything  to  gain  and  nothing  to  lose.  Through  improving  our 
friends  and  the  herd,  we  improve  ourselves.  Because  of  the  con- 
sciously disguised  movements  of  the  lips  in  most  adults,  when  being 
observed,  children  and  adolescents  alone  may  be  satisfactorily 
studied,  unless  one  can  be  honest  with  himself.  In  regard  to  ac- 
curate estimation,  through  impression,  of  the  degree  of  reflex  re- 
sponses, I  am  reminded  of  two  specialists  in  nervous  diseases  who 
disagreed  in  their  opinions  as  to  whether  or  not  a  patellar  reflex  was 
increased  or  diminished  in  its  responses — not  a  rare  disagreement; 
hence,  impressions  as  to  the  affective  significance  of  the  movements 
of  the  lips  are  to  be  expected  to  vary  somewhat  with  the  observer's 
affective  state. 

The  two  important  features  of  the  smile  seem  to  be  the  spon- 
taneity and  gentleness  with  which  the  lips  are  exposed  when  the  eye 
is  looking  honestly  at  the  observer;  and  second,  how  much  of  this 
muscle  group  is  used  in  the  revelation  of  having  been  pleased. 
Many  people  smile  with  difficulty,  revealing  a  sinister  resistance 
through  a  miniature  snarling  exposure  of  the  canines,  others  use 
chiefly  the  corners  of  their  mouths,  some  the  upper  lip  or  the  lower 
lip,  others  the  right  side  of  the  mouth  more  than  the  left,  and  still 


90  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

Others  attractively  purl  the  middle  of  the  lips  while  their  friends 
gush  all  over. 

The  word  "smile"  may  have  a  commonly  accepted  meaning 
for  many,  but  the  spontaneous  act  of  smiling  is  different  for  each 
individual.  The  contours  and  tensions  of  the  lips  are  minutely  de- 
termined by  a  complex  affective  pressure.  The  shades  of  its  ten- 
sions are  so  difficult  to  read  accurately  that  one  is  not  surprised  that 
astute  physiologists  and  psychologists  should  crudely  classify  most 
smiling,  laughing,  crying  or  cursing  as  having  a  simple  significance. 
The  postural  tensions  of  other  muscle  groups,  such  as  the  eyelids, 
nose,  cheeks,  chin,  posture  of  the  head,  shoulders,  etc.,  make  im- 
portant revelations  of  the  complex  affective  character  of  the  indi- 
vidual. Artists  have  always  recognized  these  facts  but  scientists 
have  stupidly  avoided  them. 

The  manner  in  which  the  affective  cravings  become  conditioned 
so  as  to  be  aroused  in  a  complicated  manner  by  one  complex  situa- 
tion has  been  covered  in  the  study  of  the  mechanism  of  condition- 
ing the  affective  and  autonomic  reactions.  The  mechanism  by  which 
complex  affective  cravings  are  established  and  retained  is  next  to  be 
considered. 

Affective  Repression  and  Fixation 

Through  the  psychoanalytic  method  of  studying  psychoneuroses, 
it  was  first  recognized  that  functional  derangements  or  symptoms 
disappear  after  an  adequate  affective  readjustment  is  made,  and 
that  while  the  affective  readjustment  is  in  progress  the  individual 
becomes  aware  of  forgotten  memories  and  old  desires  to  do  certain 
things.  Usually  the  history  of  the  genesis  of  the  desire  is  such 
that  it  conclusively,  in  a  sense  logically,  explains  the  cause  of  the 
symptoms  and  why  they  should  disappear  when  the  desire  subsides. 
Such  phenomena  are  only  intelligible  on  the  assumption  that  the 
desire,  or  affective  compulsion,  because  of  the  persistence  of  the 
symptoms  or  tendencies,  existed  somewhere  continuously  from  the 
time  of  its  genesis  until  its  readjustment.  Since  the  affective  crav- 
ing has  a  remarkably  persistent  tendency  to  remain  true  to  its  orig- 
inal form  upon  its  recall,  and  since  it  disappears  or  subsides  after  an 
adequate  readjustment,  it  is  reasonable  to  conclude  that  the  affective 
craving  persisted  after  its  genesis  in  something  like  its  original 
form,  because  it  was  not  permitted  to  adjust  itself.  Since  the  host 
had  no  awareness  of  its  nature  or  origin  (after  the  repression)  but 
only  felt  its  symptoms,  it  is  also  reasonable  to  consider  that  it  may 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE   FUNCTIONS   UPON   BEHAVIOR  9 1 

have  continued  its  repressed  existence  in  the  autonomic  functions  of 
the  organism. 

If  the  origin  of  the  affections  lies  in  the  peripheral  functions  of 
the  autonomic  apparatus  then  we  may  turn  to  the  autonomic  ap- 
paratus for  an  explanation  of  the  physiology  of  repression  and  fixa- 
tion of  the  affective  craving.  Since  the  craving  or  wish  is  really 
one's  consciousness  of  the  autonomic  proprioceptive  activities  as 
they  are  aroused  by  the  contractural  and  postural  motor  functions, 
we  may  look  for  the  physiological  source  of  the  repressed  but  en- 
during affective  craving  in  the  persistent  (heightened)  postural  ten- 
sions of  the  autonomic  musculature;  the  type  of  the  craving  being 
determined  by  the  autonomic  field  involved.  There  seems  to  be  no 
reason  why  the  increased  or  lowered  tonus  of  a  viscus  might  not 
continue  indefinitely.  Crile  has  pointed  out  that  this  is  indicated  in 
certain  forms  of  hyperthyroidism  and  Sherrington  has  demonstrated 
the  relative  un fatigability  of  postural  tonus  of  muscles.  The  spas- 
tic hypertonic  or  hypotonic  derangements  of  cystic,  gastric,  rectal 
and  laryngeal  musculature  definitely  support  this  conception. 

We  may  therefore  assume  that,  when  an  affective  craving  is  re- 
pressed by  fear  of  the  consequence  of  permitting  it  free  play,  the 
larger  part  of  the  organism,  which  is  not  the  source  of  the  craving, 
prevents  the  autonomic  field,  which  is  the  source  of  the  craving,  from 
adjusting  itself  by  not  permitting  it  to  dominate  the  projicient  sen- 
sori-motor  functions;  thus  preventing  it  from  acquiring  stu:h  stimuli 
as  are  necessary  to  bring  about  the  adjustment  of  its  tension.  This 
constitutes  the  fimctional  neuroses,  as  the  spastic  gastritis,  colitis, 
dysmenorrhea. 

A  craving  or  wish  may  be  said  to  be  repressed  when  it  is  not  per- 
mitted to  cause  awareness  of  its  needs,  whereas  it  is  suppressed  when 
it  may  cause  a  vague  awareness  of  its  needs.  This  theory  of  the 
physiology  of  the  repressed  affect  explains  the  cause  of  individual 
postures  and  that  peculiar  differential  trait  of  individuals  by  which 
some  are  conditioned  to  continuously  have  undue  affective  or  auto- 
nomic reactions  for  certain  stimuli,  while  others  are  indifferent  to 
them.  The  traits  of  predilection  for,  or  hypersensitiveness  for, 
certain  types  of  things  or  situations  seem  to  be  due  to  the  condi- 
tioned nature  of  some  hypertonic  autonomic  field.  Sherrington  has 
shown  that  when  a  segment  is  in  a  state  of  increased  postural  ten- 
sion it  will  react  to  certain  subliminal  stimuli — hence  its  natural 
selection  for  the  stimulus. 

When  the  autonomic  sensorimotor  system  reacts  to  a  painful 
situation  with  anger-producing  functions  and  the  compulsion  to 
act  must  be  restrained  to  avoid  a  greater  difficulty,  one  many  feel 


92  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

for  hours  the  visceral  and  bodily  tensions,  loss  of  appetite  and  dis- 
comfort. The  compulsion  to  act  continues  unmistakably  recogniz- 
able in  a  characteristic,  persistent  disconcerting  stream  of  thought, 
and  a  tendency  to  make  incoordinated  movements  and  mistakes. 
Such  phenomena  certainly  indicate  the  persistence  of  the  postural 
disturbance. 

Since  the  repressed  affect  becomes  a  painful,  disconcerting  in- 
fluence in  the  personality  the  psychopathic  individual  may  usually  be 
relied  upon  to  furnish  evidence  of  the  final  outcome  of  the  auto- 
nomic disturbance  because  he  suffers  until  relieved.  The  comfort- 
able (trained)  introspectionist  cannot  usually  afford  to  be  completely 
truthful.  Because  it  would  be  horribly  embarrassing,  introspective 
,  academic  psychology  has  been  sterilized  and  conventionalized.  In 
cases  of  repressed  affections  of  any  intensity  we  find  persistent  auto- 
nomic derangements  manifested  in  such  conditions  as  loss  of  appe- 
tite, gastric  irritability,  tendency  to  nausea  and  vomiting,  diarrhea, 
dyspnea,  headaches,  cardiac  palpitation,  blushing,  disturbances  of 
menses,  insomnia,  general  hypochondriacal  complaints,  eccentric 
physical  attitudes,  long-enduring  gross,  psychoneurotic  derange- 
ments, etc.  In  the  case  where  the  repressing  fear  influence  is  ana- 
lyzed away  and  the  repressed  affect  is  at  least  permitted  free  play 
one  observes  the  repressed  affect  coming  forth  like  an  uncoiled 
spring  of  activity  and  it  completely  dominates  the  personality  until 
an  adequate  affective  readjustment  is  made.  Following  this  re- 
adjustment the  individual,  with  apologies,  often  expresses  sur- 
prise that  his  discomforts  should  have  disappeared.  The  func- 
tions of  the  autonomic  system  seem  to  have  become  adjusted  back 
to  their  norm.  The  postural  tenseness,  as  shown  in  the  features, 
movements,  visceral  feelings,  etc.,  disappears.  The  repressed  af- 
feet  seems  to  be  stored,  like  the  energy  in  a  compressed  spring, 
in  the  heightened  postural  tension  of  some  division  of  the  auto- 
nomic apparatus.  In  this  manner  all  our  secrets  are  probably 
stored.  Perhaps  in  no  function  is  the  persistence  of  the  hyper- 
tension of  a  muscle  group,  upon  affective  repression,  so  obviously 
demonstrated  as  in  the  persistence  of  an  aresonant  voice  after  repres- 
sions of  an  angry  impulse  to  speak.  This  aresonant  or  avibratory 
condition,  judging  from  the  feelings  of  lar}''ngeal  tenseness,  is  due 
to  a  hypertonus  of  some  of  the  voice-producing  muscles. 

If  the  affective  repression  involves  interests  which  are  part  of 
the  daily  life  of  the  individual,  as  in  his  love-seeking,  an  affective 
fixation  occurs  of  which  the  personality,  no  matter  how  much 
it  attempts  to  disguise  the  influence  of  the  repression,  is  never 
able  to  entirely  escape  awareness.     Such  characters  often  make 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE   FUNCTIONS   UPON   BEHAVIOR  93 

themselves  into  romantic  heroes  to  compensate.  The  repressed 
affect  seems  to  remain  in  its  peculiar  status  quo  throughout  the 
existence  of  the  personality  unless  an  affective  readjustment  is 
brought  about  in  some  manner.  This  is  particularly  manifested  in 
the  repression  of  a  painful  love.  Years  later  the  individual,  who 
may  have  developed  the  compensatory  traits  of  a  wit  and  a  wag, 
may  succumb  to  depression,  or  should  he  attempt  to  make  love  again 
he  must  master  the  anxiety  of  the  previous  love  affair.  The  in- 
fluence of  the  repressed  affect  is  often  unmistakably  revealed  in 
dreams  and  sincere  artistic  and  literary  productions  which  of  course 
can  only  occur  when  the  censoring  affect  tolerates  the  disguise  used 
by  the  repressed  affect. 

The  principle  of  opposition  of  forces  or  conflict  of  functions  is 
as  old  as  biological  structure  and  as  basic.  Even  in  the  automatic 
reflexes  we  experience  functional  conflicts  as  in  biting  our  lips  and 
tongue,  or  swallowing  food  into  the  trachea,  or  sneezing  when  drink- 
ing, which  phenomena  one  may  readily  observe  in  himself  to  result 
from  affective  confusion  or  conflict.  Sherrington  (i,  p.  145)  has 
emphasized  that  "each  instance  of  convergence  of  two  or  more 
afferent  neurones  upon  a  third,  which  in  regard  to  them  is  efferent, 
affords  ...  an  opportunity  for  coalition  or  interference  of  their 
actions."  The  currents  in  the  affective  stream,  because  of  their  con- 
tinuity and  complexity,  tend  constantly  to  oppose  or  reenforce  one 
another  as  they  converge  to  dominate  the  behavior  of  the  projicient 
sensorimotor  system. 

The  importance  of  conflict  in  the  affections  of  a  personality  be- 
comes manifested  in  its  childhood,  as  soon  as  it  begins  to  socialize 
itself  and  consider  another's  approval  of  its  wishes.  The  age  when 
this  tendency  begins  depends  largely  upon  the  moralizing  attitude 
of  the  parents  and  their  methods  of  influencing  the  child  to  adjust 
itself.  In  modern  civilization,  man  having  so  thoroughly  mastered 
his  environment  through  his  mechanical  inventions,  the  individual's 
great  struggle  in  life  is  not  so  much  a  problem  of  self-preservation 
in  a  physical  sense  as  it  is  one  of  attaining  social  approbation,  and 
potency.  Hence  the  greater  proportion  of  the  personality's  affec- 
tions gradually  become  socialized  or  socially  conditioned  and  any 
asocial  cravings  tend  to  be  inhibited  or  repressed  by  them. 

There  has  never  been  a  tendency  in  the  history  of  man,  as  a 
species,  that  can  be  considered  to  have  been  at  all  characteristic  of 
the  species,  for  individuals  to  live  a  totally  isolated  or  independent 
existence  from  all  social  herds.  Man's  gregarious,  herding  pro- 
clivities helped  to  make  him  stronger  than  the  beasts  and  the  ele- 


94  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

ments.  The  group  cherishes  the  individual  for  the  help  he  can  give 
it  and  this  is  largely  the  nature  of  the  relations  between  one  man 
and  another.  More  than  this  psychologists  and  sociologists  have 
not  emphasized. 

The  transference  of  affection  between  individuals  is  perhaps  of 
even  greater  importance  than  physical  assistance,  except  when  the 
individuals  are  pressed  to  a  desperate  struggle  for  life.  In  the 
past  few  years  psychopathologists  have  learned  to  recognize  that 
upon  the  nature  of  the  affective  transfer  required  by  the  patient 
practically  the  whole  prognosis  of  the  psychosis  depends.  That  is, 
if  the  transfer,  in  its  specific  requirements,  belongs  to  a  type  that 
must  be  tabooed  the  prognosis  is  proportionately  discouraging.  It  is 
the  inherent  autonomic  or  affective  disposition  of  every  personality  to 
need  from  some  other  personality,  fervent,  spontaneous  demonstra- 
tions that  its  existence  is  wanted,  and  its  nature  is  approved.  No 
matter  how  substantial  is  the  contribution  to  social  improvement,  one 
cannot  be  quite  satisfied,  until  from  some  esteemed  source  is  received 
a  sign  of  approbation.  In  some  subtle  manner,  we  tend  to  seek  for  it. 
The  craving  for  such  an  affective  transference  is  vital,  and  its  grati- 
fication is  the  only  method  of  giving  the  personality  a  sense  of  well- 
being  and  social  fitness.  Men  who  would  think  for  themselves  are 
abandoned  until  they  prove  their  truth,  and  the  frigidity  of  the 
social  void  is  too  terrible  to  be  braved  except  by  the  most  courageous. 
Whether  or  not  the  tendency  to  socially  ostracize  or  torture  any 
member  of  the  herd  who  strayed  slightly  out  of  bounds  was  charac- 
teristic for  the  species  since  its  existence,  may  be  conjectured  from 
history.  It  is  well  established,  however,  that  the  affective  need  for 
a  transfer  begins  with  nursing  and  probably  becomes  a  fixed  at- 
tribute of  every  adjustment  in  adult  life  because  of  its  firm  develop- 
ment through  the  long  years  when  the  successful  struggle  for  life 
depended  entirely  upon  the  affections  of  another  personality.  As 
society  increases  its  care  for  the  individual,  and  the  individual  for 
society,  in  order  to  prevent  disease,  waste,  and  degeneracy,  poverty 
and  usurpation  of  privileges,  the  individual  grows  more  and  more 
to  need  social  esteem  in  order  to  feel  safe  and  comfortable,  and 
less  and  less  to  need  the  mystic's  encouragement.  The  charac- 
teristics of  the  individual's  family  group,  while  he  is  developing, 
becomes  the  prototype  for  all  the  future  selections  for  affective 
transfers  of  both  the  positive  and  negative  nature.  As  experience 
increases  the  dimensions  of  the  personality,  the  ramifications  of 
affective  transference  become  very  intricate,  but  the  principal  love 
and  hate  objects  in  maturity  have  easily  traceable  associations,  in 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE   FUNCTIONS   UPON   BEHAVIOR  95 

frank  people,  to  the  love  and  hates  of  childhood ;  like  the  branches 
of  a  tree  arising  from  the  trunk  but  having  their  extensions  into 
space  directed  largely  by  the  environment. 

The  history  of  the  human  race  is  full  of  accounts  of  terrible 
punishments  of  independent  thinkers  by  the  community ;  hence,  one 
would  feel  that  the  corollary  of  this  censuring  would  be  active  in 
each  individual,  to  live,  as  much  as  possible,  so  as  to  retain  society's 
approbation,  and,  if  possible,  win  society's  esteem.  Hence,  asocial 
individuals  find  safety  in  numbers,  and  clique  together  into  a  society 
of  their  own,  so  as  to  be  held  in  some  esteem.  One  of  the  most 
persistent  causes  of  anxiety  and  depression  in  the  individual  is  the 
fear  that  he  has  lost  prestige  through  a  blunder  or  a  vicious  indul- 
gence. In  psychotherapy  the  most  essential  means  of  helping  a 
patient  to  make  an  adequate  affective  readjustment  is  the  establish- 
ment of  an  altruistic  transference  (48)  between  the  patient  and 
physician. 

When  an  affective  transference  is  broken  between  two  indi- 
viduals, as  an  employer  and  employee,  anxiety  is  at  once  observable 
in  the  most  dependent  member  of  the  transference  and  probably  in 
both. 

In  mating,  well-constituted  males  exuberantly  make  heroic  sac- 
rifices of  power  and  health  in  order  to  retain  the  love  of  their  mates. 
They  are  really  happy  slaves  of  their  transfer.  When  the  transfer- 
ence is  broken  they  are  hurled  immediately  into  despair.  This 
mechanism  is  a  most  fundamental  force  in  the  evolution  of  character 
and  personality,  and  the  genesis  of  affective  health  fulness  or  of  an 
affective  diseased  state. 

The  individual's  cravings  for  social  esteem  or  approbation  be- 
come the  most  manifest  and  dominantly  active  of  all  the  autonomic 
functions  in  that  the  individual  is  always  being  made  aware  of  their 
needs  by  their  activities  forcing  him  to  do  the  things  that  will  main- 
tain or  win  approbation.  The  wish  for  social  approbation  is  grad- 
ually cultivated  to  qualify  every  sexual  or  nutritional  craving  and 
determines  that  the  sexual  and  nutritional  wish  shall  not  freely 
dominate  the  whole  organism  and  compel  it  to  do  something  that 
would  earn  the  everlasting  damnation  of  society.  The  herd,  begin- 
ning with  the  parental  influence  in  the  home,  trains  the  individual  so 
that  its  strivings  will  contribute  to  the  general  progress  of  the  herd's 
development.  The  infant's  nursing  and  elimination  cravings  are 
early  counterbalanced  by  developing  wishes  to  please  the  mother, 
hence  control  the  nutritional  and  sexual  cravings.  The  child  quickly 
learns  that  whenever  it  disappoints  the  mother  or  father  it  loses  its 
source  of  sympathy  and  encouragement.     That  is,  it  injures  itself 

8 


96  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

by  depriving  the  wish  to-be-loved  of  its  gratification.  The  child's 
wish  to-be-loved  is  vital.  Practically  its  entire  mental  development, 
as  anyone  can  see  in  himself,  until  long  after  maturity,  has  been 
influenced  by  the  wish  to  win  love  and  esteem.  After  maturity 
most  adult  males  prefer  to  substitute  the  words  honor,  esteem  and 
power  for  love. 

The  mechanism  of  the  ''  transfer,"  which  is  the  key  to  successful 
psychoanalysis  and  psychotherapy,  depends  upon  the  physician's 
abihty  to  sincerely  appreciate  the  patient's  emotional  conflict.  He 
must  genuinely  wish  to  assist  the  patient  for  his  welfare  and  the 
welfare  of  society.  The  analysis  must  proceed  upon  a  clearly  de- 
fined altruistic  basis.  The  physician  must  not  become  a  censor 
or  moralist,  or  temptation.  He  must  remove,  as  soon  as  possible, 
the  patient's  fear  of  losing  social  approbation  in  order  that  the 
repressed  functions  may  manifest  themselves.  The  physician  rep- 
resents the  highest  reconstructive  interests  of  society,  hence,  so  soon 
as  the  patient  confidently  feels  that  the  revelation  of  his  wishes  will 
not  lose  for  him  the  physician's  esteem,  he  promptly  begins  to  show 
relief  from  anxiety;  that  is,  relief  from  the  pressure  of  aflfective 
cravings  that  he  has  repressed  (that  he  tried  to  forget). 

Very  early  in  childhood  the  autonomic  apparatus  begins  to 
struggle  to  control  itself  so  that  the  individual  autonomic  cravings, 
as  the  desire  to  steal,  urinate  or  defecate,  will  not  cause  the  loss 
of  the  esteem  of  those  it  loves  most,  (mother,  father,  brother,  sister 
and  friend),  by  exposing  them  to  obnoxious,  disgust-arousing  stimuli 
which  in  turn  would  arouse  an  avertive  affect  for  the  child. 

This  peculiar  striving  of  the  autonomic  apparatus,  to  act  as  a 
unity  in  order  to  control  an  individual  segment,  develops  gradually, 
and  should  be  regarded  as  a  compensatory  reaction,  in  order  to, 
directly,  avoid  the  causes  of  pain  and  fear  and,  indirectly,  retain 
love.  When  the  child  has  developed  the  power  to  reliably  control 
the  more  simple  autonomic  adjustments,  such  as  the  eliminative,  it 
achieves  its  first  great  social  triumph.  When  this  capacity  becomes 
so  soundly  established  that  no  doubtful  feelings  remain,  the  indi- 
vidual's strivings  become  reversed  and  feeling  its  sense  of  power  it 
begins  to  strive  directly  more  and  more  to  win  love  and  esteem* and 
indirectly  to  control  itself.  The  supreme  triumph  comes  with  the 
gradual  compensatory  development  of  the  power  to  control  mastur- 
bation, usually  from  fourteen  to  eighteen.  This  compensatory  mech- 
anism applies  also,  obviously  enough,  to  perverse  sexual  and  homo- 
sexual interests  and  must  not  be  considered  in  the  sense  of  apply- 
ing merely  to  the  act  of  masturbation  but  to  all  the  fancies,  move- 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE  FUNCTIONS   UPON   BEHAVIOR  97 

merits,  interests,  associations,  etc.,  that  are  related  to  autoeroticism. 
Most  boys,  when  they  conquer  the  autoerotic  cravings,  develop  an 
aversion  for  all  the  associations  that  are  connected  with  it  and  com- 
pensate with  high  resolutions  to  enrich  society. 

One  must  therefore  see  that  slowly  but  incessantly  from  infancy 
the  autonomic  apparatus  develops,  through  integrating  itself  into  a 
unity,  a  compensatory  capacity  to  control  the  more  individual  seg- 
mental cravings.  These  compensatory  cravings,  through  being  con- 
ditioned by  associated  stimuli,  gradually  become  interwoven  into  a 
unity  of  constantly  active  wishes.  This  unity  responds  to  the 
mother's  address  of  "  you,"  or  "  John."  The  child  begins  to  think 
of  itself  as  "  John,"  "  he  "  or  "  you  "  won  over  the  bad  httle  boy,  or 
spirit,  or  devil,  which  represents  the  socially  indifferent,  segmental 
wish.  In  this  manner  is  slowly  developed  the  "  I,"  "  Me,"  "  Myself," 
and  the  "Not-I,"  "  Not-Me,"  "  Not-Myself."  There  is  no  other 
source  of  the  "  devil's  "  influence  in  us.  When  the  personality  or 
organism  acts  as  a  unity  with  the  hunger  cravings,  we  say  "  I  am 
hungry."  When  the  individual  wishes  to  do  something  and  hunger 
is  disconcerting  him,  he  says  "my  hunger."  The  child,  the  savage 
and  the  dissociated  personality  often  say  "he  is  hungry"  or  "the 
stomach  is  hungry."  The  intelligent  adult,  upon  experiencing  a 
new,  disagreeable  gastric  sensation  which  is  functionally  analogous 
to  hunger,  as  a  "  burning  pain,"  does  not  often  say  "  I  am  burning  " 
but  says  "  my  stomach  is  burning,"  or  "  I  feel  a  burning  sensation." 

Gradually,  in  youth,  this  unity  develops  into  the  "  good,"  "  con- 
scientious "  /  and  the  evil,  uncontrollable  Not-I.  Many  people 
are  still  inclined  to  differentiate  this  as  the  "  soul "  striving  against 
the  "  flesh "  or  the  "  devil."  In  the  chronic,  functional  deteriora- 
tions this  mechanism  dissociates  and  the  individual  interprets  the 
Not-I  as  another  personality.  This  mechanism  is  of  the  utmost 
importance  to  the  insight  of  the  psychopathologist  and  for  all  people 
who  wish  to  relieve  the  suffering  and  anxiety  that  is  caused  by  the 
eternal  feud  between  the  "  I  "  and  the  "  Not-I." 

A  man  or  woman  may  learn  to  know,  with  little  difficulty,  that 
all  his  anxiety  is  due  to  fear  of  failure  to  live  at  the  level  that 
pleases  all  his  wishes  best.  This  failure  may  be  caused  by  a  disease 
in  an  important  organ  or  by  an  unmodifiable  persistent  affective  need 
that  we  cannot  or  dare  not  permit  to  have  gratified. 

Before  considering  the  mechanism  of  repression  of  individual 
cravings  the  physiological  nature  of  the  so-called  will  must  be  con- 
sidered. The  riddle  of  the  nature  and  origin  of  the  will,  which  has 
baffled  philosophy  and  psychology  since  man  began  to  assume  its 


98  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

existence,  may  be  remarkably  clarified  for  the  student  if  he  will 
follow  the  suggestion  to  see  the  will  to  be  or  the  will  to  have  as 
the  wish  to  be  or  the  wish  to  have. 

The  will  is  the  compensatory  affective  or  autonomic  striving 
which,  as  a  wish,  protects  the  individual  from  the  fear  of  failure  or 
losing  the  esteem  of  the  object  of  his  transference. 

When  we  unll  to  do  this  or  that,  or  go  here  or  there,  we  really 
allow  ourselves  to  zvish  without  restraint.  This  capacity  is,  or 
should  be,  assiduously  cultivated  by  the  individual  throughout  its 
life  so  as  to  become  a  consistent  attitude  toward  everything  in  the 
environment.  The  affect  craves  for  an  event  or  an  object  and  the 
likelihood  of  its  not  becoming  a  pleasing  reality  causes  a  fear-pro- 
ducing reaction  in  proportion  to  the  seriousness  of  the  wish  and  the 
likelihood  of  its  not  being  gratified.  The  fear  reaction,  in  turn, 
very  quickly  arouses  a  compensatory  speeding-up  of  the  autonomic 
apparatus,  as  shown  by  Cannon  and  others,  in  the  increased  rate 
and  strength  of  the  heart  beat,  increase  of  adrenin  and  sugar  in  the 
blood,  and  an  appropriate  shift  of  the  blood  supply  to  the  working 
parts.  This  compensatory  increase  of  physiological  power,  greatly 
invigorating  it,  enables  the  wish  to  attack  and  reconstruct  the  en- 
vironment so  that  within  a  certain  time  events  must  occur. 

This  mechanism  works  incessantly  in  every  person's  daily  life 
in  a  ceaseless  stream  of  minor  events.  When  I  wish  a  pencil  I 
must  compensate  for  the  pencil's  failure  to  place  itself  in  my  hand 
by  picking  it  up,  an  aggressive  act.  When  I  need  some  one's  as- 
sistance I  must  compensate  for  the  discomforts  caused  by  not  hav- 
ing it  by  expending  the  energy  which  has  been  aroused  by  the  in- 
conveniences of  the  situation  and  seek  it. 

The  man,  who,  after  due  consideration,  allows  himself  to  wish  to 
have  an  object  or  an  event,  such  as  a  position,  factory,  invention,  be 
an  honored  guest,  conduct  a  hazardous  responsibility  to  a  successful 
conclusion,  make  a  scientist  of  himself,  must  not  only  be  able  to 
wish  for  the  event  but  be  able  to  successfully  compensate  for  all  the 
fears  of  failure  that  may  arise.  Just  as  his  compensatory  powers 
begin  to  fail  the  weakness  of  his  so-called  wUl  becomes  manifest. 
When  we  wish  for  an  event  but  do  not  act  to  make  its  fulfillment 
possible,  the  wish  is  not  strong  enough  to  act.  It  is  only  strong 
enough  to  cause  the  thought. 

This  compensatory  physiological  striving  occurs  reflexly  and 
through  the  introspective  analysis  of  the  occasions  of  what  would  be 
called  increased  will  power  in  myself  I  have  been  able  to  find  a  re- 
pressed banal  fear  of  losing  the  thing  I  wished  to  acquire.     For 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE   FUNCTIONS    UPON   BEHAVIOR  99 

example,  while  working  on  a  manuscript  my  capacity  to  coordinate 
details  and  to  visualize  the  object  for  which  I  was  striving  (demon- 
stration of  a  theory)  had  greatly  subsided  and  for  several  days  I 
could  get  nothing  done.  Then  one  day  about  noon  the  capacity  to 
work  had  become  greatly  accelerated.  This  acceleration  had  oc- 
curred so  spontaneously  that  it  was  well  under  way  before  I  realized 
that  it  had  occurred.  At  first  I  could  not  account  for  it.  No  one 
had  relieved  any  diffident,  repressive  tendencies  in  myself  through 
an  expression  of  esteem  for  my  work,  but,  with  further  recall,  I 
became  aware  of  the  fear  that  another  psych opathologist,  who  was 
acquainted  with  my  material  and  theory,  was  finding  it  difficult, 
revealed  in  his  manner  of  saying  what  he  would  like  to  do,  to 
refrain  from  usurping  my  rights.  The  only  practical  defense  was 
being  reflexly  made  through  vigorous  self-assertion  which  discour- 
aged the  other  man.  Within  a  few  minutes  the  vigorous  autonomic 
compensation  for  the  fear  of  the  possibility  of  losing  the  fulfillment 
of  an  important  wish  began  to  show  itself  in  an  aggressive  onslaught 
upon  the  environment,  my  data,  and  making  it  conform  itself  to 
please  the  wish  by  assuming  the  form  of  a  completed  article. 

The  grand  old  law  that  "  honesty  is  the  best  policy  "  has  a  crit- 
ical significance  in  the  development  of  personal  power.  It  often 
requires  the  endurance  of  great  anxiety  to  honestly  endure  the  pros- 
pect of  failure,  particularly  when  a  dishonest  adaptation,  as  a  lie, 
secret,  or  malicious  advantage,  may  save  the  situation.  But  the  en- 
during of  the  anxiety  in  turn  gives  the  individual  a  sublime  reward 
in  that  the  autonomic  apparatus  is  so  constituted  that  the  situation 
forces  it  to  augment  its  vigor  and  thereby  develop  additional  skill, 
endurance  and  power.  One  may  see  this  compensatory  mechanism 
wonderfully  developed  in  such  remarkable  characters  as  Charles 
Darwin  (51). 

The  failure  to  endure  anxiety  makes  the  vicious,  secret  intrigues, 
the  behind-the-curtain-politician,  the  pathological  liar,  the  drug 
habitue,  the  shyster,  etc.  Society  can  only  protect  itself  from  the 
destructive  influences  of  such  dishonest  adjustments  by  resolutely, 
promptly,  severely  punishing  every  unlawful  adjustment.  Because, 
then,  the  greater  fear  will  influence  the  individual  to  endure  the 
lesser  fear  until  the  compensation  is  established.  He  then  only  can 
become  a  stronger  link  in  the  social  chain  providing  he  is  given  a 
fair  chance  to  win  social  esteem. 

The  so-called  paraphrenia  types,  that  is,  individuals  who  are 
"weak  of  will,"  fail  to  make  socially  approvable  adjustments  be- 
cause of  the  poorly  developed  nature  of  the  wish  to  be  socially  es- 


100  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

teemed.  This  is  due  in  turn  to  the  nature  of  the  conditioning  of 
the  love-cravings.  The  self-lover  or  autoerotic  type  naturally  sacri- 
fices society's  interests  in  the  innumerable  petty  crises  as  well  as  in 
the  greater  crisis,  in  the  sense  that  he  would  rather  dream  about  him- 
self than  work  for  the  welfare  of  society.  This  is  not  his  choice, 
but,  during  his  growth,  his  parents  failed  to  give  him  sincere  love 
and  esteem,  without  cost,  during  critical  tests.  The  attitude  of 
wishing  to  be  esteemed  was  not  developed  sufficiently  to  endure  the 
stresses  of  competition  when  a  more  self-reliant  rival  had  to  be 
beaten.  Hence  the  timid  retreat  into  autoeroticism  where  no  rivals 
care  to  enter. 

We  may  sum  up  then,  the  "will-to-become"  is  the  same  as  the 
"  wish-for-esteem "  and  the  "  wish-to-have."  It  is  the  autonomic 
apparatus's  reflex  compensation  to  protect  the  wish  from  the  possi- 
bility of  failure  to  acquire  gratification  that  gives  us  the  power  to 
endure  and  act. 

This  now  brings  us  logically  to  the  significance  and  mechanism 
of  the  affective  conflict  between  what  may  be  designated  as  the  so- 
cialized wishes  of  the  personality,  which  constitute  the  "  I,"  "  Me," 
"  Myself,"  "  My  Soul,"  "  My  Conscience,"  which  are  physiologically 
founded  in  the  personality  acting  as  a  unity,  and  the  perverse,  indi- 
vidual craving  or  wish  that  constitutes  the  Not-I  or  "  evil "  and 
arises  from  some  individual  autonomic  segment  as  the  digestive  or 
sexual  apparatus. 

To  illustrate :  The  hunger  cravings  in  the  stomach  may,  through 
their  compulsive  power,  place  the  entire  organism  and  its  future  in 
jeopardy  by  forcing  the  stealing  of  food.  This  has  a  much  more 
common  application  in  the  commitment  of  sexual  transgression,  par- 
ticularly when  the  compulsive  craving  for  autoerotic,  or  perverse 
homosexual,  or  incestuous  indulgence  is  insistently  forcing  itself 
upon  the  individual.  This  conflict  of  the  integrative  functions  is 
the  mechanism  that  causes  the  destructive  psychoses  and  is  to  be 
found  underlying  every  functional  deterioration  of  the  personality. 
Where  the  sexual  cravings  support  the  socialized  wishes  of  the  per- 
sonality, the  individual  becomes  virile,  good  and  happy,  and  a  most 
constructive  social  influence.  It  applies  further  in  that  when  society 
becomes  abnormal,  the  sexually  normal  attack  society,  as  in  the  great 
social  upheaval  in  France  which  overthrew  a  perverse  aristocracy. 

Out  of  the  affective  conflict  between  the  cravings  of  the  organism 
as  a  unity  and  the  cravings  of  an  individual  part  for  control  of  the 
final  common  motor  path  of  adjustment,  arises  the  mechanism  of 
suppression,  repression,  the  summation  of  allied  cravings,  and  the 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE   FUNCTIONS   UPON   BEHAVIOR         lOI 

summation  of  the  antagonistic  cravings,  dissociation  of  the  person- 
ality and  affective  compensation  with  satisfaction  giving  compro- 
mises as  sublim<itions. 

Always,  asocial,  egocentric  and  pernicious  tendencies  must  be 
repressed  or  denied  in  order  to  retain  another  individual's  transfer 
unless  the  object  of  the  transfer  tolerates  asocial  and  perverted 
indulgences. 

The  function  of  affective  repression  seems  to  have  developed  con- 
siderably later  in  the  phylogenetic  scale  than  affective  restriction 
(32)  and  is  to  be  observed  late  in  the  life  of  the  modem  child.  It 
probably  does  not  often  occur  in  savages  and  is  poorly  developed  in 
mental  defectives  and  certain  types  of  asocial  adults. 

The  mechanism  of  affective  repression  is  to  be  met  with  more  or 
less  in  every  personality  in  modern  civilization.  It  is  essentially 
the  result  of  the  personality  becoming  the  host  of  an  affective  crav- 
ing which,  being  utterly  intolerable  because  of  its  disastrous  conse- 
quences if  allowed  free  play,  is  repressed  by  a  vigorous  fear  reac- 
tion and  soon  followed  by  a  compensatory  striving.  The  social 
and  moral  exigencies  absolutely  require  such  an  adjustment  because 
the  individual  members  of  society  must  protect  themselves  from 
their  imitative  predispositions. 

In  the  phenomenon  of  repression,  two  factors  are  always  ap- 
parent, (i)  fundamental  selfish  or  egocentric  cravings  which  are 
repressed,  and  (2)  socialized  cravings  which  repress  them.  The 
egocentric  cravings  are  usually  repressed  or  censored  when  they 
tend  to  place  themselves  above  the  race  to  the  detriment  of  society, 
as  in  unjustifiable  loves,  perversions,  hatreds,  autoeroticism,  or  ava- 
riciousness.  The  healthful  resolution  of  the  conflict  occurs  when 
the  egocentric  cravings  require  that  which  will  further  the  best  con- 
structive interests  of  the  individual  and  society. 

Almost  every  imaginable  variation  in  the  intensity  and  firmness 
of  the  egocentric  and  the  socialized  affective  cravings  may  exist.  No 
two  individuals  are  alike,  although  the  mechanisms  are  essentially 
the  same. 

Obviously  enough,  in  modern  society,  the  one  persistent  affective 
craving  which  is  more  or  less  constantly  censured  is  the  sexual, 
since  society  must  protect  itself  from  excessive  sexual  indulgence 
because  it  leads  to  a  pernicious  waste  of  energy.  Civilization  and 
the  race  would  deteriorate.  On  the  other  hand,  sexual  interests 
may  become  so  excessively  repressed  that  civilization  must  become 
a  burden.     This  is  not  strange,  but  is  a  universal  biological  result 


102  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

that  occurs  with  excessive  indulgence  in,  or  undue  denial  of,  any  of 
the  necessities.^ 

The  affections,  which  should  tend  to  a  refined,  honest,  sexual  ex- 
pression in  the  adult,  may  become  perversely  conditioned  in  the  in- 
fancy or  youth  of  the  personality,  and,  when  the  cravings  to  acquire 
social  approval  are  developed,  the  individual's  eyes  may  be  opened 
to  his  plight.  Horror,  shame  and  anxiety  may  be  the  result.  For 
example,  a  too  devoted,  pretty  mother  loved  to  bathe  her  infant  son. 
This  arrangement  continued  happily  until  he  was  about  twelve. 
The  situation  was  innocent  enough  until  one  day  some  of  his  boy 
playmates,  who  had  no  little  insight  into  sexuality,  learned  of  it 
through  an  innocent  remark.  Their  surprise,  scorn  and  sexual  im- 
pressions opened  the  youth's  eyes.  That  night  the  boy  absolutely 
refused  to  be  seen  by  his  unwise  mother.  Foolishly  she  persisted 
and  almost  worked  up  a  catastrophe,  but  no  commands  or  persuasion 
could  change  the  boy's  horror  for  the  arrangement. 

In  psychopathology  one  finds  that  many  people  suffer  because 
their  sexual  affections  are  conditioned  to  react  to  an  unattainable 
object  such  as,  either  (i)  a  socially  tabooed  object  like  the  father, 
mother,  sister,  brother,  or  a  perverted  or  homosexual  object ;  or  (2) 
a  lost,  or  unresponsive,  or  degraded  love  object. 

On  the  other  hand  the  sexual  affections  may  be  apparently  normal 
in  their  reactions  and  requirements  but  the  socialized  cravings  may 
be  so  rigorously  repressive  of  all  tendencies  pertaining  to  sexuality 
that  the  individual  may  suffer  from  chronic  anxiety.  A  pathologic- 
ally conscientious  woman,  who  apparently  was  trained  to  believe 
that  anything  pertaining  to  sex  was  horrible  and  the  cause  of  the 
sorrows  of  humanity  taught  her  children  this  belief.  All  her  chil- 
dren, when  they  matured  and  the  reproductive  forces  began  to  make 
themselves  felt,  became  psychopaths.  The  man,  a  son,  who  gave 
this  information  in  order  to  have  his  brother  saved  from  a  serious 
state  of  sexual  anxiety,  frankly  included  an  account  of  his  own  suf- 
ferings and  insanity  because  of  his  inability  to  reconcile  the  impres- 
sions of  his  mother's  life-long  teachings  and  his  sexual  affections. 
A  healthful  solution  for  himself  came  with  the  gradual  revision  of 
his  moral  feelings. 

Such  pathological  conditions  do  not  require  sexual  license.  On 
the  contrary,  as  a  fundamental  social  necessity,  the  conditioning  of 

2  Sexuality  is  here  used  in  the  sense  that  love  is  usually  used.  Sexual 
intercourse  is  not  normal  unless  accompanied  with  love.  Even  among  stu- 
dents of  human  behavior  the  necessity  of  love  in  the  sexual  functions  of  the 
individual  is  just  becoming  generally  recognized. 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE   FUNCTIONS   UPON   BEHAVIOR         IO3 

the  sexual  affections,  to  react  to,  and  require,  such  objects  that  their 
seeking  shall  bring  a  healthful  aflfective  freedom,  efficiency,  honesty, 
happiness  and  virility,  is  required. 

When  affective  cravings  urge  an  old  man  or  a  boy  to  run  home 
in  order  to  deposit  something  and  then  hurry  him  back  to  the  street 
corner  to  see  the  circus  parade,  we  have  an  instance  of  conflict.  In 
such  processes,  which  occupy  most  of  our  daily  behavior,  conflict 
occurs  as  the  various  affective  processes  strive  to  control  the  final 
common  motor  paths  of  adjustment.  Under  such  conditions,  how- 
ever, affective  repression  does  not  occur.  The  individual  is  not 
forced  by  the  situation  to  repress  or  make  himself  "  forget "  any  of 
the  yearnings.  He  freely  entertains  them  as  they  arise,  and,  in  due 
course  of  events,  they  are  permitted  to  attain  gratification.  Re- 
pressions are  made  at  a  critical  moment  and  occur  reflexly  and  not 
after  consideration.  Giving  the  affect  consideration  is  almost  the 
opposite  of  repressing  it.  The  individual,  like  the  proverbial  ostrich 
that  buries  its  head  in  the  sand,  represses  the  affect  in  order  to  for- 
get or  escape  being  made  aware  of  it.  The  repression  of  the  primary 
affective  functions,  it  seems,  is  always  pathological.  Any  form  of 
affective  craving  may  be  repressed,  such  as  love,  fear,  disgust, 
shame,  anger.  One  may  imagine  an  infection  that  led  to  health  and 
fortune  and  so  with  an  affective  repression,  but,  as  a  general  prin- 
ciple, the  repressed  craving  causes  severe  functional  disturbances  in 
the  stream  of  thought.  This  becomes  manifested  when  the  indi- 
vidual attempts  to  adapt  his  wishes  to  unpleasant  interests  and  finds 
in  himself  an  unexpected  resistance  or  aversion.  He  feels  a  tend- 
ency to  make  mistakes,  to  show  unexpected  preferences  and  aver- 
sions, forgetfulness,  insomnia,  loss  of  spontanity  and  inspiration, 
feelings  of  weakness,  headache,  "  queer  thoughts,"  obsessions,  man- 
nerisms, fancies,  change  in  style  of  writing  or  drawing,  speaking, 
laughing  or  singing,  etc.  The  repression  does  not  always  indicate 
a  personal  weakness.  A  serious  repression  may  be  made  from  dire 
necessity,  and,  if  anything,  indicate  unusual  self-control. 

A  young  naval  officer,  who  had  incurred  the  animosity  of  his 
superior,  was  repeatedly  enraged  by  the  latter's  humiliating  nagging 
on  board  ship.  The  situation  required  repeated  repression  of  the 
anger  and  indignation,  since  escape  and  retribution  were  impossible, 
because  of  the  peculiar  nature  of  his  personality  and  of  other  cir- 
cumstances. This  finally  produced  a  state  of  utter  inefficiency  in 
the  man,  including  loss  of  weight,  insomnia,  depression,  forgetful- 
ness, etc. 

A  young  woman  was  persistently  dominated  in  a  most  irritating 


104  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

manner  by  her  husband's  mother.  The  family  arrangement  was 
such  that  a  frank  conflict,  which  would  surely  have  been  violent, 
had  to  be  avoided  by  the  young  woman.  A  series  of  repressions  of 
hatred  and  shame  finally  produced  a  grave  psychopathic  state  (15) 
with  eight  independent  symptom  complexes. 

Affective  repressions  may  be  made  after  a  long  struggle,  and 
the  affect  may  disappear,  it  seems,  without  one's  realization  of  it. 
An  obsessive  thought  or  feeling  may  be  irrepressible  for  days,  and 
we  may  complain  to  our  friends  of  not  being  able  to  get  rid  of  it. 
Some  time  later,  we  may  be  asked  about  the  obsession,  and,  for 
the  first  time,  we  realize  that  it  is  gone  (assimilated  or  repressed). 
The  repression  was  made  without  awareness  of  its  occurrence.  In 
every  instance  of  repression,  the  personality  makes  an  intensive 
affective  coordination  along  compromising  lines  of  adjustment,  which 
really  become  the  resultant  or  final  common  path  of  adjustment. 
We  may  take  journeys,  substitute  compromising  vocations,  hobbies, 
sports,  artistic  and  intellectual  interests,  charities,  religious  sects, 
rituals,  societies,  in  fact,  anything,  in  order  to  forget  the  painful 
memories ;  that  is,  to  escape  being  made  aware  of  the  needs  of  the 
painful  affect. 

A  child  may  be  delighed  by  anal  erotic,  masturbatory,  sadistic, 
masochistic  or  exhibitionistic  play,  thievery,  a  mannerism,  perversion, 
or  the  death  of  someone,  and,  later,  upon  its  realization  that  the 
wish  for  such  things  is  an  indication  of  degeneracy  or  inferiority,  a 
repression  of  it  may  be  effected  after  an  anxious  struggle.  In 
the  desperate  effort  to  escape  from  any  reminder  of  the  difficulty, 
the  individual  goes  in  almost  the  opposite  direction.  Unconsciously, 
he  strives  to  get  as  far  away  from  it  as  possible.  The  compensatory 
trend  mxiy  gradually  become  the  dominating  characteristic  of  the 
personality  during  maturity,  depending  upon  the  vigor  of  the  re~ 
pressed  affect,  and  the  persistence  necessary  to  keep  it  repressed. 

A  child  that  is  delighted  by  eneuresis,  excreta,  odors,  filth,  waste 
or  slovenliness  usually  is  later  horrified  by  the  significance  of  such 
pleasures,  and,  compensating  with  a  phobia  for  everything  that  sug- 
gests a  return  of  the  old  cravings,  becomes  painfully  clean  and 
scrupulous. 

The  anal  erotic  psychopath  is  notoriously  stingy,  systematic,  and 
has  a  horror  for  dirt.  When  he  yields  to  his  cravings,  he  becomes 
extremely  slovenly  and  filthy.  The  extravagant,  licentious  Augus- 
tine, when  he  saved  himself,  became  a  saint  of  self-denial  and  holi- 
ness. The  epileptic,  heathen,  politic  Paul  became  a  saintly  teacher 
of  Christianity,  justice  and  equity. 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE  FUNCTIONS   UPON   BEHAVIOR         I05 

The  repressed  affect  is  conditioned  to  react  to  the  presence  of  the 
stimuli  that  previously  generated  it  before  the  repression  occurred, 
and,  in  this  sense,  a  fixation  of  its  functions  is  established.  If  love 
or  anger  for  an  individual  is  repressed,  the  presence  of  this  indi- 
vidual, or  one  with  associated  attributes,  causes  uncomfortable  auto- 
nomic reactions  despite  all  resolutions  to  prevent  it.  The  defense 
is  usually  to  avoid  the  stimulus.  In  adults  we  rarely  see  a  com- 
promise or  congenial  readjustment  after  a  quarrel  in  which  both 
sides  failed  to  get  satisfaction,  which  is  due  to  a  fixation  of  the 
resentment.  A  young  woman  remarked  that  when  she  got  a  new 
position  she  would  tell  her  "autocratic"  boss  what  she  thought  of 
him.  The  new  position  would  remove  the  repressive  fear  and  the 
anger  might  then  enjoy  free  play.  The  comment  itself  was  the 
result  of  allowing  the  inhibited  affect  some  freedom  which  the  in- 
fluence of  sympathetic  friends  made  possible  through  removal  of  the 
inhibiting  fear  of  appearing  petulant. 

Freud  (33,  34)  has  shown  that  the  repressed  affect  is  constantly 
trying  to  break  through  the  resistance  and  manifests  itself  in  motor 
incoordinations,  that  is  in  the  innumerable  little  mistakes  of  speech, 
writing,  forgetting,  substituting,  misspelling,  etc.  When  the  re- 
pressed affect  succeeds  in  breaking  through  the  resistance  in  the 
disguise  of  wit,  the  feelings  of  potency  produced  are  a  great  pleas- 
ure and  we  laugh.  This  occurs  when  we  are  repressing  an  affec- 
tive interest  unduly  or  when  the  presence  of  someone  is  the  repress- 
ing influence. 

The  repression  is  always  the  result  of  a  form  of  impotence,  lack 
of  skill,  power  or  courage,  often  because  of  a  long-established  timid- 
ity through  the  domineering  influence  of  a  parent,  but  more  fre- 
quently because  of  the  peculiar  situation  involved  and  the  vulner- 
able physiological  state  of  the  individual  at  the  time  of  the  crisis,  as 
in  exhaustion,  convalescence,  etc.  Wit  disarms  the  aggressor  by  a 
spontaneous,  subtle,  ingenious  stroke  of  words  and  the  old  feeling  of 
potency  returns.  It  always  makes  us  chuckle.  The  witty  remark 
may  be  made  by  another  at  the  aggressor's  expense  but  all  who 
laugh  are  enjoying  the  release  of  their  own  repressions,  if  not 
toward  that  particular  individual  then  toward  an  identifiable  likeness, 
or  situation. 

Humor  is  an  attack  of  benign  ridicule  directed  upon  the  difficult 
things  in  Hfe  which  we  cannot  comfortably  master,  and  is  adminis- 
tered to  soothe  an  irritation.  In  the  humorous  phrase  or  caricature 
is  often  a  revelation  of  one's  previous  deficiency.     The  caricatures 


I06  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

of  Mutt  and  Jeff,  Happy  Hooligan,  Hans  and  Fritz,  the  mighty 
Katinka,  etc.,  must  certainly  give  the  authors  a  delightful  vehicle 
for  avenging  an  ancient  grievance.  Mark  Twain  is  said  to  have 
written  as  a  humorist  in  a  serious  attempt  to  teach  a  philosophy  of 
living.  We  laugh,  spontaneously,  with  unrestrained  pleasure,  when 
we  become  aware  that  a  restrictive  influence  has  been  spontaneously 
subjected  to  an  utterly  heedless  humiliation.  Some  one  in  a  group 
of  men  described  a  large,  stern  suffragette  with  an  ugly  temper 
getting  hit  on  the  head  by  a  tomato  during  the  badgering  of  a 
militant  suffrage  parade.  Everybody  laughed,  surely,  because  the 
description  of  the  oppressive  Amazon  caused  a  faint  discomfort, 
and  her  sudden  humiliation  permitted  an  affective  readjustment. 

The  struggle  for  social  supremacy  is  so  universal  and  continuous 
among  all  men  and  women  that  pleasurable  feelings  are  produced 
by  every  situation,  no  matter  how  insignificant,  that  reflects  directly 
or  indirectly  upon  us  a  sense  of  superiority  or  relatively  greater  po- 
tency than  usual.  We  seem  to  be  prone  to  smile  at  all  sorts  of  mis- 
takes, failures,  clumsy  movements,  errors,  signs  of  weakness  among 
our  associates.  Fortunately,  our  own  strivings,  when  they  are 
crude,  become  amusing,  and  the  energic  economy  in  this  is  apparent 
when  the  "  saving  sense  of  humor "  is  compared  to  the  waste  of 
energy  attending  chronic  anger  and  worry  at  our  own  mistakes. 

An  eccentrically  developed  tendency  to  enjoy  the  failures  of 
others  is  symptomatic  of  relief  from  strivings  to  be  superior  and 
indicates  a  subconscious  sense  of  inferiority.  We  find  such  symp- 
toms in  people  who  suffered  from  humiliating  inferiorities  in  child- 
hood, such  as  bed-wetting,  awkwardness,  ugliness,  etc.  The  seizure 
of  little  opportunities  to  display  knowledge,  such  as  looking  for 
opportunities  to  make  corrections,  are  also  symptomatic  of  sub- 
conscious feelings  of  inferiority.  One  often  notes  the  use  of  pre- 
tensions in  order  to  hide  a  secret  which  has  been  more  or  less  in- 
hibited from  consciousness. 

The  metropolitan  newspapers  rarely  miss  an  opportunity  to 
socially  submerge  unfortunates  by  publishing  broadcast  their  scan- 
dals, because  the  upward-striving,  common  herd  delight  in  reading 
about  the  downfall  and  failure  of  others.  Rarely  indeed  are  suc- 
cesses ever  featured  in  a  paper,  unless  they  involve  a  direct  advan- 
tage to  the  average  reader.  On  the  other  hand,  social  degradations 
which  have  no  direct  relation  to  the  average  individual  are  given 
blazing  headlines. 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE   FUNCTIONS   UPON  BEHAVIOR         I07 

Sumination  and  Reinforcement,  and  Reciprocal  Inhibition  of 
Affective  Cravings 

Often,  "  a  lot  of  things  "  or  "  several  reasons "  is  the  explana- 
tion given  for  doing  something  or  making  a  change  of  position  or 
habitat  when  any  one  of  several  wishes  may  not  be  strong  enough 
to  cause  a  change.  Sherrington  demonstrated  that  a  summation  of 
subliminal  afferent  impulses,  when  associated  with  an  appropriate 
postural  tension,  will  finally  produce  a  reaction  in  the  efferent 
neurone;  also,  a  summation  of  cravings  from  a  series  of  postural 
tensions  may  occur  and  produce  overt  adjustments,  as  when  one  is 
wearing  tight  clothing  and  must  maintain  a  cramped,  dignified  posi- 
tion during  an  austere  ceremony.  Furthermore,  Sherrington  dem- 
onstrated the  reciprocal  inhibition  of  the  negative  or  antagonistic 
afferent  impulse,  and  it  is  probable  that  reciprocal  inhibition  of  the 
negative  or  antagonistic  wish  occurs  in  a  similar  manner. 

Various  wishes  may  urge  the  same  journey,  as  anger  at  some- 
thing in  the  environment  which  we  can  punish  by  going  away,  ennui 
because  of  other  things,  love  for  some  one,  and  a  business  wish  may 
finally  decide  the  going.  The  summation  of  a  series  of  "  petty  an- 
noyances" (anger  reactions)  may  cause  a  change  of  employment. 
When  the  desire  to  go  "  there  "  is  reenf orced  by  a  desire  to  leave 
"  here  "  a  change  of  position  occurs. 

In  order  to  act,  the  negative  wish  not  to  act  must  be  inhibited 
like  the  reciprocal  inhibition  of  the  negative  impulse,  which  Sher- 
rington says  is  just  as  important  but  more  difficult  to  see  (i,  p.  178). 
For  example,  one  may  desire  to  be  in  the  city,  but  will  not  go  be- 
cause he  has  no  desire  to  leave  the  country,  or  one  may  wish  to 
leave  the  country,  but  will  not  go  because  he  can't  think  of  any 
place  desirable  to  go  to.  One  does  not  go  from  "  here  "  to  "  there  " 
unless  one  wishes  to  leave  "  here  "  and  wishes  to  go  "  there."  The 
wish  to  go  "  there  "  may  be  very  prominent  in  consciousness,  and 
the  reciprocal  wish  to  leave  "here"  may  be  active  subconsciously. 
The  same  mechanism  would  hold  for  saying  "  this "  instead  of 
"  that." 

Summation  and  reinforcement  may  also  occur  in  the  repressed 
affections.  This  is  indicated  by  the  analytic  studies  of  dissociations 
of  the  personality  which  have  shown  that  disastrous  dissociations 
of  the  personality  may  develop  as  the  repressed  affections  accumu- 
late and  become  too  strong  to  be  controlled. 

Repression  of  a  wish  implies  a  fear  of  its  consequences  if  it  is 
allowed  to  work,  but  few  people  have  the  courage  to  admit  that  they 


I08  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

have  been  weak  enough  to  repress  a  desire  or  impulse.  One  finds 
people  who  stoutly  maintain  that  they  "never"  repress  anything 
but  (courageously  by  impHcation)  say  "right  out"  what  they  think. 
Experience  with  such  claimants  indicates  that  they  have  no  insight, 
and  are  often  chronic  "brooders"  (repressors)  with  eccentric  re- 
sistances, and  only  make  the  outburst  upon  an  adequate  summation 
(provocation)  of  repressed  wishes.  When  we  become  aware,  be- 
cause of  repeated  irritations,  that  a  summation  of  affect  to  retaliate 
is  occurring  within  us,  we  are  inclined  to  become  disagreeably  pre- 
occupied with  the  dilemma  until  we  find  an  acceptable  means  for 
retaliation.  It  is  not  uncommon  to  see  highly  trained  men  refrain 
from  making  an  important  expression  of  opinion,  because  they  are 
afraid  the  accumulated  affect  may  cause  a  momentary  loss  of  self- 
control  and  something  might  be  impulsively  said  or  done  that  would 
later  be  undesirable,  because  it  revealed  the  "  bearing  of  malice." 

Affective  Conflict  and  Dissociation  of  the  Personality 

The  concept  of  dissociation  of  the  personality  had  its  most  defi- 
nite formulation,  though  not  its  origin,  in  Bleuler's  (44)  studies  of 
schizophrenia.  When  intense,  enduring  cravings  or  wishes  oppose 
one  another  they  seem  to  struggle  for  control  of  the  final  common 
motor  paths  just  as  two  afferent  neurones  or  two  opposed  indi- 
viduals might  struggle  for  an  effector  or  a  mechanical  means  to  an 
end.  The  socialized  interests  of  the  personality,  through  incessant 
training,  control  the  more  self-indulgent  affective  cravings  without 
much  difficulty  so  long  as  both  interests  are  fairly  well  satisfied  by 
the  compromise.  However,  when  the  sexual  cravings  or  other 
powerful  affective  reactions  such  as  fear,  anger,  shame,  are  re- 
pressed, because  their  tendencies  are  intolerable  in  a  given  situation, 
temporary  dissociation  of  the  functions  is  likely  to  occur  as  the  so- 
cialized interests  become  fatigued,  depressed  or  distracted,  which  will 
be  shown  in  errors,  forgetting,  and  persistent,  undesirable  thoughts. 
In  the  hallucination,  say  auditory,  the  repressed,  dissociated  wishes 
that  arouse  the  auditory  image  are  not  recognizable  as  belonging  to 
the  ego  or  socialized  self  and  are  treated  as  a  foreign  influence  or 
the  work  of  another  personality.  In  this  sense  a  state  of  schizo- 
phrenia, or  dissociation  of  the  personality,  occurs.  In  the  normal 
individual,  except  during  sleep,  the  wish  produces  a  degree  of  aware- 
ness of  itself,  causing  a  sense  of  ownership  and  the  question  as  to 
whether  or  not  it  is  a  part  of  oneself  does  not  usually  arise.  This  is 
in  striking  contradistinction  to  the  repressed  wish  which  is  unable  to 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE   FUNCTIONS   UPON  BEHAVIOR         IO9 

produce  a  recognizable  awareness  of  itself  but  must  reach  conscious- 
ness through  some  symbol  or  disguise. 

The  persistence  and  semi-independent  nature  of  the  repressed 
wish  was  not  given  its  due  importance  until  the  psychopathologist 
Freud  (33)  demonstrated  that  a  repressed  wish  caused  mistakes  in 
thought  and  expression  and  proved  to  be  the  origin  of  hallucinations. 

The  inhibited  or  repressed  wish  often  plays  a  trick  on  the  re- 
pressing wish  by  substituting  its  own  fulfillment  through  a  slight 
change  in  expression.  For  example,  when  one  writes  a  manuscript 
and  upon  reading  it  over  finds  that  a  neat  little  change  in  the  mean- 
ing of  an  important  sentence  has  been  unconsciously  made  by  the 
substitution  of  a  letter  in  a  word.  Upon  reading  over  a  letter  that 
I  had  written  I  found  the  word  spell  instead  of  smell,  having  un- 
consciously substituted  the  letter  p  for  m.  The  word  spell  was  an 
embarrassing  revelation  of  a  concealed  wish  to  say  something  about 
spelling  a  name.  Such  incoordinations  are  forms  of  dissociation 
because  the  effort  to  produce  a  thing  correctly  is  dissociated  suffi- 
ciently to  permit  the  injection  of  another  expression.  Dissociations 
of  the  error  type  will  show,  if  analyzed,  a  wish  fulfillment  in  the 
error. 

The  repressed  wish,  when  it  becomes  dissociated  or  is  out  of 
control  and  independently  seeks  gratification  through  the  compul- 
sion, delusion  or  hallucination,  becomes  fixed  in  its  conditioned  re- 
quirements and  tends  to  remain  so  for  life.  One  highly  intelligent, 
old  paranoid  gentleman  has  a  history  of  having  the  same  auditory, 
visual  and  tactile  hallucinations  for  over  fifty  years.  In  the  so- 
called  dementia  praecox  cases  (chronic  dissociations)  this  is  very 
common. 

Failure  to  inhibit  the  negative  or  antagonistic  wishes  always  pro- 
duces incoordinations  of  thought  or  movement  which  may  be  cor- 
related with  Sherrington's  principle  that  the  entire  nervous  system  is 
evolved  on  the  mechanism  of  coordination  of  allied  impulses  and 
incoordination  of  antagonistic  impulses.  The  psychoanalyst  has  been 
able  to  demonstrate  that  this  same  mechanistic  principle  holds  true 
on  a  greater,  more  complicated,  scale  in  the  functions  of  the  affective 
cravings.  Analytical  studies  of  psychopaths,  as  well  as  normals, 
have  repeatedly  shown  that  apparently  all  conceivable  degrees  of 
affective  conflict  occur,  ranging  from  the  unconscious  error,  to  se- 
rious, acute  dissociations  (35),  to  the  grave,  unadjustable,  chronic 
dissociations  of  the  personality. 

The  law  that  the  autonomic  or  affective  unrest  tends  to  compel 
the  acquisition  of  adequate  stimuli,  having  the  capacity  of  producing 


no  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

a  State  of  affective  rest,  holds  true  also  for  the  affective  cravings  that 
have  become  dissociated  from  the  ego  (socialized  wishes  of  the  per- 
sonality). When  we  are  hungry  we  become  aware  of  visual,  olfac- 
tory, gustatory,  kinesthetic  and  perhaps  auditory  images  of  past  sen- 
sations acquired  from  previous  attempts  to  get  food.  This  aware- 
ness of  the  sensory  images  of  getting  food  is  a  manifestation  that  the 
autonomic  craving  is  already  on  its  way  to  acquire  food.  Our  think- 
ing about  where  we  will  eat  and  what  the  dinner  shall  consist  of  is 
only  the  further  progress  of  the  affect  on  its  journey,  and  the  seeking 
and  eating  of  the  food  completes  it.  When  we  mistake  a  stranger 
for  someone,  the  misidentification  is  due  to  the  adulteration  of  the 
actual  visual  sensations  made  by  the  physical  attributes  of  the 
stranger  with  images  of  past  visual  impressions  made  by  the  person 
for  whom  we  have  strong  affective  reactions.  The  awareness  of  the 
old  visual  images  is  produced  by  the  restless  affect  which,  in  order 
to  attain  its  object,  like  the  food  hunger,  utilized  semi-adequate  sen- 
sory images  until  the  reality  could  be  obtained. 

In  the  dream  the  same  mechanism  occurs  and  determines  the 
dream  imagery  as  was  first  demonstrated  by  Freud  (19) — wish  ful- 
fillment or  affective  gratification  in  the  dream. 

In  the  delusion  and  the  hallucination  (35)  the  same  affective 
mechanism  occurs  and  the  difference  exists  only  in  the  degree  of 
vividness,  persistence,  and  quantity  of  the  sensory  images  associated 
with  the  actual  sensation  produced  by  the  exogenous  stimulus  at  the 
moment.  Because  of  the  persistence  and  vividness  of  the  image 
(endogenous  stimulus)  the  individual  cannot  differentiate  its  reality 
from  a  new  sensation  (exogenous  stimulus).  When  one  looks  at 
the  door  and  the  door  as  a  visual  stimulus  forces  an  awareness  of 
itself  despite  all  resistance  or  indifference  it  has  certain  essential 
attributes  of  exogenous  reality.  If  the  door  seems  to  move  and  the 
visual  afterimage  of  the  moving  door  (hallucination)  is  as  vivid  and 
persistent  as  the  actual,  stationary  door,  the  personality  has  no  means 
of  differentiating  it  from  the  exogenous  stimulus  and  an  affective 
craving  is  the  cause  of  the  visual  adulteration.  We  are  expecting 
some  one.  A  protest  may  be  made  here,  namely,  that  we  may  be  so 
engaged  that  for  some  one  to  enter  the  room  would  be  most  unde- 
sirable, so  how  can  there  be  a  wish  fulfillment  in  the  hallucination 
of  the  moving  door?  The  answer  must  call  attention  to  the  nega- 
tive side  of  the  affective  craving  "  to  be  alone  by  all  means."  The 
affective  reactions  have  preceded  the  possibility  of  being  taken  una- 
wares by  preparing  a  defense  so  that  if  some  one  should  come  the 
organism  would  not  be  caught  tmawares.     Since  all  anticipatory 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE  FUNCTIONS   UPON  BEHAVIOR         III 

States  are  states  of  unrest,  usually  more  or  less  painful,  the  defensive 
affective  reaction  which  had  been  restrained  was  unconsciously 
allowed  to  break  through  because  its  striving  for  adjustment  had 
caused  too  much  discomfort.  Hence  the  door  is  seen  to  move  as 
the  restricted  but  aggressive  affect  gets  into  action.  The  anxious 
hunter  often  shoots  wildly  just  in  order  to  be  shooting  for  relief 
from  his  tension.  This  mechanism  is  the  greatest  defect  of  raw 
troops  because  the  agony  from  withholding  the  affect  to  counter 
charge  becomes  so  great  that  they  break  and  rush  into  danger  rather 
than  endure  the  anxiety.  The  defensive  counter-charging  affect 
finally  breaks  through  and  compels  the  assault,  hence,  like  the  hallu- 
cinated swing  of  the  door,  almost  any  situation  is  seized  by  the 
inhibited  affect  as  an  opportunity  to  make  a  comfortable  readjust- 
ment, and  "  have  it  over  with." 

Complete  affective  dissociation  occurs  when  the  repressed  affect 
becomes  vigorous  enough  to  break  through  the  resistance  while  the 
individual  is  not  aware  that  it  is  doing  so.  The  socialized  person- 
ality or  ego  cannot  at  any  price  accept  the  existence  of  the  horrible, 
dissociated  affect  as  a  part  of  its  personal  makeup.  This  is  ex- 
tremely common  in  men  and  women  who  suffer  intense  agonies  of 
fear  from  a  persistent,  uncontrollable  craving  for  sexual  perver- 
sions. In  homosexual  men,  who  would  commit  suicide  rather  than 
accept  the  tendency  to  sexual  perverseness  and  yet  who  love  the 
world,  we  often  see  the  tendency  of  the  growing  sexual  cravings 
breaking  through  the  resistance  in  dreams — night  terrors — and  grad- 
ually, as  the  defense  becomes  exhausted,  hallucinations  of  homo- 
sexual advances  and  finally  of  assault  occur.  Often  such  men  make 
desperate  counter-attacks  upon  all  sexuality  by  fostering  vigorous 
social-sexual  reforms.  In  every  hallucination  for  the  existence  of 
which  I  have  been  able  to  work  out  a  reasonable  explanation,  a  re- 
pressed (forgotten),  intense  affective  craving  was  found  to  deter- 
mine it.  The  exhaustion  of  the  capacity  to  control  the  autonomic 
forces  of  the  personality  is  in  no  sense  dissimilar  to  that  of  a  stu- 
dent who,  after  intense  efforts  to  coordinate  his  interests  in  study 
in  a  distracting  situation,  becomes  fatigued  and  must  finally  yield  to 
the  distractions. 

The  dissociated  affect  may  become  so  persistently  active  that  the 
awareness  of  the  sensory  images  it  produces  may  be  treated  by  the 
individual  like  mental  impressions  caused  by  the  suggestions  of  an- 
other personality.  In  such  cases  an  intricate,  elaborate,  compensa- 
tory defense  (perhaps  self -aggrandizing)  and  an  angry  counter- 
attack is  often  developed.     One  may  see  such  individuals  in  any 


112  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

asylum,  charging  a  friend  or  relative  or  fictitious  personality  with 
being  the  cause  of  sensory  disturbances  which  are  often  obviously 
wish-fulfilling. 

It  often  happens  that  the  repressed  affect  does  not  become  dis- 
sociated or  assert  its  independence  until  disease,  intoxication,  or  ex- 
haustion weakens  the  controlling  affective  strivings.  The  repressed 
affect,  like  the  antagonistic  afferent  impulse,  is  controlled  by  pre- 
venting it  from  dominating  the  final  common  efferent  paths  which 
it  must  use  to  acquire  gratification. 

In  the  psychogenic  dementias  or  chronic  dissociated  states  the 
dissociated  perverse  affective  cravings  act  on  the  principle  of  acquir- 
ing gratification  just  as  the  well-conditioned  affective  cravings,  seek- 
ing gratification,  develop  a  personality  with  mighty  powers  and 
sublime  accomplishments.  The  degree  of  affective  dissociation  may 
often  be  measured  by  the  degree  of  social  disorientation. 

The  dissociation  of  the  affective  forces  of  the  personality  may  be 
correlated  with  independent  conflicting  functions  of  various  divi- 
sions of  the  autonomic  apparatus.  Concrete  proof  that  such  things 
occur  is  furnished  by  undesirable  sexual  cravings,  incontinence  of 
feces  and  urine,  vomiting,  glandular  secretions  in  the  presence  of 
certain  stimuli,  or  the  tendency  to  do  opposite  things  at  the  same 
time  when  in  panic  states.  In  many  psychoses  it  seems  that  part  of 
the  organic  unity  strives  to  coordinate  itself  to  work  along  certain 
lines  (socially  laudable),  and  a  reactionary  division  of  the  organism 
persists  in  going  in  another  (conditioned)  direction  which  is  horri- 
fying. 

That  different  divisions  of  the  autonomic  apparatus  may  oppose 
one  another  is  now  accepted  by  physiologists  and  given  much  em- 
phasis by  Cannon  (4),  who  finds  indications  that  the  sympathetic 
autonomic  division  opposes  the  cranial  and  sacral  autonomic  where 
a  dual  innervation  of  visceral  muscles  occurs. 

In  seasickness  strong  swallowing  and  gulping  reflexes  start 
esophageal  peristaltic  waves  downward  in  opposition  to  nauseating, 
retching,  emissive,  peristaltic  waves  coming  upward  from  the 
stomach. 

Individuals  who  are  predisposed  to  affective  dissociation  are 
usually  characterized  by  tendencies  to  brood,  be  irritable  and  eccen- 
tric. They  belong  to  the  "  shut-in  "  type  because  they  have  chronic 
tendencies  to  inhibit  or  conceal  their  affections.  Fear  of  permitting 
the  affect  free  play,  such  as  in  curiosity,  friendliness,  love  seeking, 
prevents  it  from  attaining  practical  contact  with  reality  and  the 
environment,  and  forces  it  to  use  endogenous  forms  of  counter- 
stimulation,  as  day-dreams,  imaginations,  hallucinations,  etc. 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE   FUNCTIONS   UPON  BEHAVIOR         II3 

In  this  sense  the  personality  becomes  introverted  in  type.  The 
extroverted  type  of  affective  adjustment  is  quite  the  opposite  and 
contact  with  reality  is  its  consistent  characteristic.  Jung  (37)  and 
White  (38)  have  strongly  emphasized  the  importance  in  psycho- 
pathology  of  extroversion  and  introversion  of  the  affective  strivings. 

A  compromise  of  extroversion  and  introversion  tendencies  is 
the  mechanism  normally  used  in  everyday  life  with  the  extroversion 
tendency  always  slightly  dominating  the  introversion  tendencies. 
Modern  American  society  inclines  to  be  organized  on  the  basis  of 
individual  equality  and  when  an  individual  tends  to  either  excessive 
aflFective  extroversion  or  introversion  he  becomes  eccentrically  bold 
and  inconsiderate  or  too  timid  to  support  the  social  system.  The 
whole  civilized  world  is  reacting  to  destroy  the  excessively  domi- 
neering extroversion  characteristics  of  the  Teutonic  peoples  which 
have  been  assiduously  cultivated  for  a  series  of  generations  under 
the  guise  of  "  will-to-power  "  through  the  means  of  an  oligarchical 
militarism.  We  must  "  make  the  world  safe  for  democracy  "  is  the 
aflFective  reaction.  The  affect  may  be  so  shut-in  and  qualified  with 
feelings  of  self-blame  that  anger  may  attack  the  organism  itself. 
This  always  occurs  when  the  stimulus  of  the  anger  originates  within 
the  organism  as  in  a  stupid  error,  carelessness,  indolence,  or  auto- 
eroticism.  One  may  observe  individuals  "  cussing  themselves  out " 
for  laziness  after  missing  an  opportunity,  or  the  self-castration  of 
masturbators. 

The  extroversion  mechanism  is  essentially  healthful  and  con- 
ducive to  robustness,  because  the  autonomic  disturbance  is  more   / 
promptly  neutralized ;  whereas  the  introversion  mechanism  tends  '' 
to  a  prolonged  increase  of  aflFective  sensitiveness.     With  introver- 
sion a  lowering  of  the  threshold  of  the  autonomic  reactions  occurs 
so  that  ordinary,  subliminal  stimuli  may  cause  vigorous,  autonomic 
reactions  which  are  usually  distressing.     Painful  consciousness  of 
self  results  and  this  may  become  so  chronic  as  to  become  an  en-  ; 
during  characteristic  of  the  personality.     Self-conscious  personali-  \ 
ties  are  notoriously  irritable  and  unstable  in  crises.     The  self-con-  \ 
sciousness  of  psychopaths  is  well  known  and  is  probably  due  to  \ 
heightened  postural  tensions  in  the  autonomic  apparatus.    It  is  ah-    | 
solutely  vital  for  a  happy  maturity  that  youth  shall  master  the  causes    j 
of  self -consciousness. 

The  biological  principles  of  atrophy  of  structure  through  disuse 
and  the  specialization  of  function  and  crystallization  of  structure 
through  use  give  particular  significance  to  the  recent  physiolog- 
ical conception,  that  the  skeletal  striped  muscle  is  fundamentally 


114  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

an  unstriped  cell  in  which  is  embedded  a  striped  or  projicient  motor 
apparatus  (an  evolution  of  the  skeletal  muscle  to  enable  the  auto- 
nomic apparatus  to  fulfill  its  biological  career).  This  indicates  the 
intimate  nature  of  the  fundamental  need  of  the  reactions  of  the  auto- 
nomic or  affective  sensori-motor  system  for  the  prompt  spontaneous 
usage  of  the  skeletal  striped  muscle.  Therefore,  when  an  affective 
disturbance  occurs  and  an  outward  appearance  of  indifference  is 
maintained,  the  affect  is  "  shut  in  "  and  so-called  affective  introver- 
sion may  occur.  The  boy  or  girl  who,  because  of  teasing  (repressive 
influences),  is  too  timid  to  risk  the  crude  mistakes  of  adolescence, 
tends  to  remain  autoerotic,  and  his  or  her  affections  become  intro- 
verted, i.  e.,  dependent  upon  endogenous  sources  (fancy)  for 
gratification. 

An  affective  repression  in  a  crisis  may  so  seriously  inhibit  or 
retard  the  spontaneity  of  affective  response  and  expression  in  future 
situations  that  the  very  essence  of  living  becomes  lost  through  im- 
potence. We  find  innumerable  people  who  are  utterly  unable  to 
respond  to  a  situation  until  the  safety  of  a  prospective  course  of 
action  is  completely  assured.  This  vital  lack  of  initiative  must  be 
as  fatal  to  any  career  as  headlong  impulsiveness — and  is  as  radical. 
Such  people  are  characterized  by  chronic  capacities  for  retrospective 
thinking  about  "  what  they  might  have,  or  should  have  done."  The 
timid  individual  may  tend  to  a  persistent  chronic  hatred  of  the  causes 
of  his  failure.  This  anger  may  be  directed,  self-consciously,  at  his 
deficiency,  timidity,  cowardice,  self-love,  or  projected  upon  some 
innocent  critic  or  aggressor.  Anger  for  a  deficiency  seems  to  be  a 
valuable  mechanism  for  overcoming  it  if  the  deficiency  is  not  too 
firmly  established.  This  is  a  common  mechanism  adolescents  use  to 
break  up  masturbation  cravings.  Brooding  is  a  symptom  of  the  in- 
troversion tendency  when  imbued  with  anger,  wherein  the  affect  is 
not  permitted  free  play,  is  not  assimilated,  and  tends  to  punish  the 
self.  The  smoldering  self-hatred  may  reach  such  bounds  that  the 
individual  may  mutilate  himself  physically,  socially  or  morally. 
This  tendency  is  found  in  a  queer  group  of  alcoholics  who  are  vir- 
tually compelled  "to  fight  booze"  and  drink  themselves  to  death.  In 
some  cases  of  dementia  where  the  personality  tends  to  destroy  itself 
through  masturbation,  self-mutilation,  or  castration,  this  self-hatred 
appears.  A  young  dipsomaniac,  whose  chief  pleasure  in  life  seemed 
to  lie  in  keeping  himself  in  a  drunken  stupor,  remarked  during  his 
psychosis,  when  he  tried  to  eat  the  dirt  on  the  floor,  "I  thought  I 
ate  all  the  dirt  in  the  world."  We  see  this  self-hatred  mechanism 
most  highly  specialized  in   the  wretched,   poverty-stricken  dipso- 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE   FUNCTIONS   UPON   BEHAVIOR         II 5 

maniac  who  smiles  as  if  he  were  a  hero  when,  with  his  belly  against 
the  bar,  a  certain  type  of  patronizing  individual  praises  him  as  a 
"  booze  fighter."  The  significance  of  "  fight  booze  "  is  recognizable 
in  the  hatred  for  all  constructive  interests  in  life.  Introverted 
anger  like  extroverted  anger  tends  to  destroy  its  cause.  Such  men 
are  usually  doomed  to  self-destruction  if  the  cause  of  the  intro- 
verted hatred  is  chronic.  A  flirtatious  mate  may  arouse  a  grave, 
smouldering  hatred,  and  long-established  repressive  habits  may  per- 
mit of  no  other  solution  than  the  alcoholic's  method  of  getting  indi- 
rect revenge.  Occasionally  one  meets  with  middle-aged  men  who 
have  become  vicious  alcoholics  without  apparent  cause.  An  anal- 
ysis of  the  situation  may  show  jealousy  of  the  wife,  who  is  openly 
demonstrative  of  her  preference  for  her  maturing  son.  She  parries 
the  husband's  angry  thrusts  so  cleverly  that  he  can  get  no  satis- 
faction. After  this  affective  dilemma  has  continued  a  year  or  so 
society  is  suddenly  astonished  to  learn  that  the  alcoholic  husband, 
who  has  become  a  physical  derelict,  has  destroyed  all  the  resources 
of  his  family  through  whiskey  debts.  The  introverted  rage  thus 
tends  to  obtain  gratification  by  destroying  its  causes,  i.  e.,  the  home 
and  the  tactless  self. 

The  tendency  to  affective  introversion  may  become  so  excessively 
developed  that  the  individual  gradually  loses  practically  all  interest 
in  the  environment.  The  asylums  contain  many  such  individuals, 
who  contribute  no  spontaneous  effort  to  improving  the  environ- 
mental conditions.  They  are  characteristically  socially  indiflferent 
and  spend  their  existence  in  a  dream  state.  Their  timid,  retarded 
movements,  meager,  monosyllabic  replies,  total  lack  of  spontaneity, 
and  oblivious  deliberateness,  demonstrate  the  extreme  degree  of  the 
autonomic  indiflference  and  the  peculiar,  almost  unchangeable  pos- 
tural muscle  tonus.  They  are  easily  recognized  as  they  wander 
along,  looking  at  nothing,  arms  hanging  semi-rigidly  at  their  sides. 
They  never  laugh  out  loud,  except  to  themselves,  their  voices  lack 
resonance  and  at  best  they  respond  to  a  humorous  situation  with  a 
faint  little  smile.  They  make  no  friends.  When  such  individuals 
strive  to  establish  their  social  equality,  they  become  irritable,  un- 
stable and  inclined  to  incongruous,  impulsive  acts.  Every  spon- 
taneous movement  makes  them  extremely  self-conscious,  as  if  with 
astonishment  at  themselves.  The  introverted  individual  seems  to 
be  uncreative,  in  proportion  to  his  introversion,  whereas  the  extro- 
verted manic  is  often  ceaselessly  creative.  The  Oriental  is  unimag- 
inative in  a  constructive  sense,  is  not  inventive  and  is  relatively  far 
more  introverted  than  the  European  or  American. 


Il6  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

Affective  Progression  and  Regression 

If  the  adult  will  scan  his  affective  career,  he  may  note  that, 
rather  consistently,  up  to  a  certain  age,  at  least,  he  felt  a  constant 
pressure  to  improve  and  refine  his  methods  of  fulfilling  his  wishes 
in  order  to  attain  in  some  endeavor  socially  preeminent  potency. 
The  law  by  which  this  tendency  is  seen  to  work  is  that  the  craving 
or  wish  strives  to  attain  a  maximum  of  gratification  with  a  minimum 
expenditure  of  energy.  Thereby  occurs  the  extension  of  power. 
As  a  man  refines  himself  and  his  instruments,  he  feels  a  decided  pro- 
gression in  general  efficiency  and  integration  of  thought.  This 
tendency  to  perfection  through  practice,  in  manipulating  the  self  as 
well  as  the  environment,  is  also  to  be  seen  in  animals  (36).  One 
must  recognize  that,  in  himself,  each  wish  strives  according  to  this 
law,  and  that  with  resignation  to  one  craving,  although  this  pleases  it, 
the  other  more  or  less  opposed  affective  cravings,  being  unable  to 
realize  themselves,  cause  discomfort,  that  is,  a  sense  of  waste  or 
misuse  of  energy,  hence  shame  and  "  pangs  of  conscience."  There- 
fore, the  tendency  naturally  develops  to  conduct  oneself  and  select 
associates  so  that  all  of  one's  cherished  wishes  may  freely  influence 
one's  behavior.  Upon  this  mechanism  is  based  the  moral  progress 
of  honest  men,  as  well  as  the  degradation  of  thieves. 

In  many  adults,  after  a  critical  failure,  a  tendency  to  affective 
regression  to  a  lower,  easier  level  of  less  exacting  requirements,  is 
likely  to  occur.  Apparently,  this  regression  is  a  return  to  an  affec- 
tive adjustment  that  was  previously  satisfactory,  and  is  usually  far 
anore  vulgar,  more  heedless  and  infantile,  and  less  satisfactory  for 
winning  social  esteem.  An  observable  degree  of  social  indifference 
occurs  with  it.  Extreme  instances  are  particularly  common  in  hebe- 
phrenic forms  of  dissociation  of  the  personality.  In  such  cases,  the 
personality  regresses  to  a  heedless,  self-indulgent,  indolent,  child- 
hood level,  where,  with  its  enormous  reserve  of  physical  power,  it 
easily  gratifies  its  slothful,  childish  requirements  with  relatively  care- 
less incoordinated  forms  of  thought.  Affective  regression  essentially 
produces  a  disintegration  of  the  higher  integrations  of  function  or 
thought,  whereas  affective  progression  requires  the  construction  of 
more  comprehensive  and  refined  integrations  of  thought. 

The  tendency  of  the  biological  forces  to  constantly  refine  them- 
selves so  as  to  attain  a  maximum  of  result  or  satisfaction  with  a 
minimum  expenditure  of  energy  is  not  only  to  be  seen  in  the  organic 
structure  and  the  curves  of  objective  and  subjective  learning,  as 
studied  in  the  psychological  laboratory,  but  we  may  see  this  prin- 
ciple demonstrated  in  the  evolution  of  machinery,  the  automobile. 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE  FUNCTIONS   UPON  BEHAVIOR         II 7 

aeroplane,  piano,  factory,  university,  church,  kitchen,  soap.  A  de- 
lightful thrill  is  felt  when  we  hear  of  some  new  invention  or  about 
something  being  done  "  for  the  first  time."  With  it,  we  transcend 
our  old  ways,  and  feel  a  momentary  respite  from  the  resistances 
to  our  striving  wishes. 

The  tendency  of  a  particular  affective  craving  or  autonomic  dis- 
position to  acquire  neutralizing  stimuli,  which  is  characterized  by  a 
consistent  pressure  to  gracefully  economize  in  the  expenditure  of 
energy,  may  be  observed  in  play  as  well  as  work.  In  play,  where 
energy  seems  to  be  wasted  with  utter  disregard,  the  freedom  of 
movement  healthfully  counteracts  the  restrictive  tendency  of  con- 
trolled movement  which  must  occur  during  work.  Play  prevents 
a  form  of  atrophy  of  disuse  by  increasing  the  elasticity  of  the 
adaptive  functions  as  well  as  permitting  the  affect  more  freedom, 
and,  more  rapidly  than  work,  rounds  out  the  growth  and  skilfulness 
of  the  individual.  One's  endurance  for  work  is  greatly  increased 
when  work  becomes  play. 

The  attainment  of  satisfactory  exogenous  stimuli,  which  gives 
one  a  delightful  sense  of  potency  or  power,  is,  perhaps,  due  to  the 
excess  of  metabolic  (adrenin)  or  energic  products  which  were  pre- 
pared for  the  work  or  struggle  and  still  suffuse  the  system  after 
the  goal  is  won.  This  phenomenon  holds  true  for  any  form  of 
affective  cravings  so  soon  as  the  object  becomes  assured.  With  the 
assurance  comes  relief  from  a  form  of  tension,  a  fear  of  not  win- 
ning or  retaining  the  object. 

On  the  other  hand,  so  long  as  the  desired  state  or  goal  is  not  as- 
sured one  feels  an  unpleasant  sense  of  postural  tenseness,  and,  when 
the  object  becomes  hopelessly  lost,  or  is  unattainable,  a  sense  of 
impotence  or  weakness  is  felt  throughout  the  body.  Such  struggles 
against  anxiety  may  become  chronic,  as  when  poverty  or  business 
disaster  seems  unavoidable.  It  is  quite  possible  that  the  quantities 
of  adrenin  in  the  blood  stream  during  the  states  of  potency  and 
impotence,  above  referred  to,  are  equal  but  the  fact  that  in  the  potent 
state  the  object  is  assured  makes  the  quantity  relatively  excessive, 
whereas  when  the  object  is  lost  the  struggle  is  not  at  once  abandoned. 

Every  personality  tends  to  develop  certain  individual  interests  in 
which  it  strives  particularly  to  establish  its  potency  and  rather  early 
becomes  indifferent  to  most  other  interests.  One  may  observe  this 
in  individuals  as  they  strive  to  establish  their  potency  as  scientists, 
philosophers,  pugilists,  educators,  bankers,  beggars,  cooks,  surgeons, 
tailors,  social  lions,  and  what  not.  Whatever  the  trend  of  a  man's 
interest,  one  may  observe  that  it  is  his  vehicle  for  establishing  his 


Il8  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

biological  potency.  The  individual  cherishes  his  vocational  or  spe- 
cial interests  with  the  same  jealous  care  that  characterizes  the  atti- 
tude of  the  bull  moose  with  his  mate. 

Nothing  so  quickly  destroys  an  individual's  potency  as  any  cause 
of  fear.  This  probably  has  a  physiological  mechanism  which  is 
similar  to  the  inhibitions  of  the  digestive  functions  during  fear 
states.  Sexual  impotence  often  results,  in  the  physically  well- 
constituted  male,  from  a  subtle  form  of  fear  which  the  individual 
himself  is  unable  to  master  or  understand.  The  fearful  situation 
causes  the  blood  supply  to  be  conveyed  into  the  head  and  organs  of 
defense  and  forced  out  of  the  digestive  system  and  sexual  organs 
causing  impotence. 

Affective  Readjustment,  Assimilation  and  Sublimation 

When,  through  the  psychoanalytic  method,  because  of  freedom 
from  restraint,  the  repressed  (forgotten)  painful  experience  is  re- 
called a  disturbance  of  the  patient's  behavior  occurs.  After  the 
affect  has  been  permitted  to  adjust  itself,  as  in  anger,  by  saying 
whatever  the  inclination  requires,  the  patient  often  adds  something 
about  being  relieved  or  "  feeling  better."  Symptoms  of  functional 
derangements,  as  well  as  persistent  thoughts,  disappear  and  the  in- 
dividual gives  many  indications  of  having  made  an  affective  read- 
justment in  which  the  hypertonic  or  hypotonic  condition  of  some 
viscus,  such  as  the  bladder,  stomach  or  vocal  cords  disappeared  as 
the  organ  resumed  its  normal  functions. 

When  an  individual  is  offended  and  is  prevented  from  making 
an  adequate  retaliation,  he  is  disposed  to  use  a  sympathetic  medium 
with  whom  he  talks  over  the  other  fellow's  offense  and  then  feels 
relieved.  For  some  time  after  the  painful  situation,  if  he  failed  to 
obtain  "  satisfaction,"  the  restlessness  and  distractibility  reveal  his 
difficulty  with  the  persistent  affect.  This  tends  to  continue  until 
the  affective  reaction  is  thoroughly  submerged  by  a  change  of  in- 
terests or  gradually  becomes  assimilated. 

When  an  affective  reaction  (such  as  anger)  is  aroused  by  an 
exogenous  or  an  endogenous  condition,  one  becomes  aware  of  a  com- 
pelling influence  or  motive  to  punish  the  offensive  factor.  The  sen- 
sations it  causes  are  often  clearly  recognizable  as  a  fullness  of  the 
thorax  with  a  tendency  to  expel  the  air  forcibly,  such  as  to  shout, 
speak  vehemently,  or  blow  the  breath  out  noisily  when  speech  is 
suppressed.  Also  one  feels  a  tumescence  of  the  muscles  of  the  arms 
and  hands,  a  fullness  in  the  neck  and  congestion  of  the  face  with 
distinct  sensations  of  griping  and  striking  postures  of  the  muscles. 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE  FUNCTIONS   UPON   BEHAVIOR         II9 

The  clenched  fist  and  jaw  and  staring  eye  overtly  signify  the  state 
of  the  postural  tendency  to  punish  or  remove  the  offensive  stimulus. 

So  long  as  the  affect  is  inhibited  from  executing  overt  move- 
ments an  inhibiting  or  restraining  affective  force  is  at  work  in  some 
form  of  fear.  Few  individuals  have  the  frankness  to  admit  that 
they  are  afraid  to  attack  when  angry,  but  insist  they  refrain  on 
grounds  of  decorum,  propriety,  etc.  This,  however,  implies  a  fear 
of  violating  social  dignity.  In  some  instances,  upon  "mature  con- 
sideration "  the  offender  may  be  held  irresponsible  or  justified  in  his 
offense.  An  affective  readjustment  may  then  occur  as  the  inhibi- 
tions of  anger  disappear,  which  is  then,  however,  duly  qualified 
by  admissions  that  the  offense  was  deserved.  The  aggressive  tend- 
ency becomes  directed  upon  the  self,  and  satisfaction  is  derived 
through  a  self -punishment  for  the  neglect  fulness  which  angered  the 
assailant.  Such  assimilation,  in  a  sense,  incapacitates  us  in  that  we 
are  no  longer  able  to  become  angry  at  an  identical  offense.  This 
may  constitute  a  personal  deficiency  or  an  excellent  quality.  We 
sigh  (relief),  go  through  distracting  movements,  and  feel  a  gradual 
relaxation  of  the  tense  posture  of  the  muscles  as  they  readjust  to 
their  norm. 

Another  method  of  affective  readjustment  is  to  substitute  an 
object  associated  with  the  offender  and  punish  it,  as  his  name,  repu- 
tation, business.  Wherever  men  are  subordinated  to  one  another 
in  grades,  as  in  armies,  hospitals,  factories,  etc.,  one  may  trace  an 
aggression  as  it  passes  down  from  a  superintendent  to  an  assistant, 
to  an  assistant's  assistant,  and  so  on. 

With  any  type  of  adequate  affective  readjustment,  the  postural 
tensions  of  the  visceral  and  skeletal  muscles  involved  seem  to  relax 
and  a  state  of  affective  calm  recurs,  as  when  we  sigh  our  relief. 

Whenever  an  affective  readjustment  is  made  to  a  situation  it 
seems  that  the  reaction  threshold  of  the  particular  affective  reaction 
(as  anger)  returns  to  the  normal,  whereas,  when  the  affective  read- 
justment is  not  made,  the  reaction  threshold  is  lowered  and  an  ordi- 
narily subliminal  stimulus  may  increase  the  autonomic  or  affective 
reaction.  Since  this  mechanism  is  apparently  true  for  all  the  affec- 
tive reactions,  it  also  explains  how  individual  characteristics  and 
variations  toward  the  environment  develop  during  the  growth  of 
the  personality.  We  speak  of  such  people  as  being  irritable,  sensi- 
tive, or  "  easy  to  kid." 

The  complex  affective  stream  of  the  adult  contains  the  condi- 
tioning influences  of  his  past  experiences,  beginning  with  infancy. 
If  one  could  make  a  cross  section  of  the  adult  personality,  towards 


I20  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

its  center  or  infancy,  one  would  find,  like  the  imbedded  fossils  of  the 
Pleistocene  period  (Jelliffe),  the  repressed  and  submerged  but  well- 
constituted  affective  cravings  of  infancy  and  childhood  sustained  in 
the  infantile  autonomic  tensions.  One  may  see  in  many  adults  the 
symptoms  of  childish  affective  retentions  in  the  peculiar  resonance 
and  pitch  of  voice,  the  style  of  the  words  used,  the  bodily  man- 
nerisms, and  particularly  the  adjustment  mechanism  to  stressful 
situations  which  are  strong  enough  to  scatter  the  coordinations 
cultivated  for  social  propriety.  That  we  devote  most  of  the  excess 
of  energy  of  maturity  working  out  the  wishes  of  childhood  has  been 
amply  demonstrated  by  psychoanalysis. 

The  most  consistently  potent  affective  craving,  in  its  influence 
upon  behavior  and  the  growth  of  the  personality  in  modern  civiliza- 
tion, is  love.  Upon  the  conditioning  of  a  man's  or  woman's  love 
cravings  depends  his  entire  career.  Popularly,  love  is  said  to  give 
or  be  given  as  if  something  passes  out  from  the  lover  to  the  love 
object.  This  is  an  absurdity.  What  obviously  does  occur  when 
the  autonomic  functions  of  love  are  freely  active  is  an  enormous 
pleasurable  expenditure  of  energy  through  a  reflexly  sustained,  in- 
vigorated postural  tonus  of  the  skeletal  and  visceral  musculature, 
which  in  turn  makes  the  love-object  comfortable  and  inclined  to 
reciprocate,  "  Love  lightens  labor "  in  that  receiving  the  demon- 
strations of  it  the  struggle  for  esteem  need  not  be  so  severe.  Also 
there  occurs  an  increased  capacity  for  varying  spontaneous  move- 
ments which  seem  to  be  characteristically  fashioned  to  cherish  the 
love-object  and  induce  a  reciprocal  demonstration  of  affection. 

The  loss  of  the  love-object  may  occur  in  a  variety  of  ways,  all, 
in  a  sense,  involving  its  destruction  as  a  love-object,  as  death,  dis- 
grace, unresponsiveness,  etc.  In  wretched  young  people,  who  are 
suffering  anxiety  because  of  the  unresponsiveness  of  the  love-ob- 
ject, it  is  not  uncommon  for  them  to  seek  for  defects,  physical  or 
moral,  in  the  love-object,  in  order  to  free  themselves  from  the 
tremendous  affective  influence  of  the  love-object  to  which  they  have 
become  veritable  slaves.  Rival  lovers  in  romance  (author's  fancies) 
often  tarnish  the  love-object's  reputation  in  order  that  the  affective 
reactions  can  no  longer  be  aroused  by  the  one-time  ideal.  The 
heroic  lover  is  always  made  to  resent  this  effort  to  mingle  disgust 
with  love. 

When  the  love-object  is  unattainable  in  fancy  as  a  deferred 
gratification,  that  is,  when  hope  is  gone,  the  vigorous  affective 
exuberance  and  the  potent  tumescence  of  the  muscular  systems  lit- 
erally shrinks,  producing  a  depression,  perhaps  anxiety,  psycho- 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE  FUNCTIONS   UPON  BEHAVIOR         121 

motor  retardation  and  visceral  pain.  Ambition,  cheerfulness,  op- 
timism, vigor,  excellent  digestive  functions,  refreshing  sleep,  effi- 
ciency, courage,  spontaneity,  as  symptoms  of  the  successful  pursuit 
of  the  love-object  become  changed  to  depression  of  the  neuro-mus- 
cular  and  gastro-intestinal  functions,  with  insomnia,  frightful,  un- 
finished dreams,  restlessness,  incoordinated,  retarded  movements, 
seclusiveness,  anxiety  and  despair.  This  general  depression  of  the 
autonomic  activities  seems  to  continue  until  another  love-object  is 
substituted.  In  proportion  to  its  suitableness,  an  exuberant  affective 
readjustment  occurs.  Most  mature  males  and  females,  that  is,  all 
who  lack  inspiration,  finally  have  accepted  a  substitution  for  their 
love-object.  According  to  the  ancient  Greeks,  when  Cupid  (Love) 
flies  away.  Psyche  (mental  integrity)  dies.  In  this  sense,  perhaps, 
half  of  the  matings  are  disastrous. 

When  the  affective  cravings  of  love  are  repressed  through  pride 
or  fear,  tremendous  changes  in  the  personality  immediately  occur 
which  may  endure  throughout  life,  and  the  effects  of  the  repression 
are  to  be  seen  in  the  deranged  autonomic  functions,  as  chronic 
sleeplessness,  due  to  the  lowered  reaction  threshold  of  autonomic 
tensions,  irritability,  gastro-intestinal  distress,  sexual  impotence,  etc. 

Proportionately  as  the  substituted  love-object  has  attributes  that 
gratify  the  conditioned  nature  of  the  love  cravings,  the  restoration 
to  a  healthful,  comfortable  autonomic  status  recurs.  A  self-cure 
is  often  effected  in  the  following  manner.  The  anxious  lover  may 
devote  his  life  to  working  for  the  fulfillment  of  the  love-object's 
wish  or  yearning  as  he  conceived  it  to  be.  This  may  be  a  work  of 
art,  a  business  or  a  social  reform,  an  invention,  a  book,  an  explora- 
tion, a  song,  or  crime,  etc.  The  nature  of  the  substituted  love- 
object  may  be  beneficial  or  injurious  to  civilization  and  the  indi^ 
vidual.  The  substitution  for  the  love-object,  of  something  asso- 
ciated with  the  love-object,  is  often  called  sublimation  of  the  affect. 
Upon  a  successful  sublimation  depends  the  successful  cure  of  the 
psychopath.  The  tendency  to  sublimation  is  usually  characterized 
by  efforts  to  acquire  a  finer  object  when  anger  complicates  the  love 
yearnings,  as  in  Washington  Irving's  delightful  Ichabod  Crane. 

The  substituted  love-object  may  be  an  attribute  of  the  individual 
himself,  as  in  the  regression  to  narcissistic  love  of  his  own  hair, 
eyes,  hands,  voice,  demonstrating  intellectual  powers,  as  capacity  for 
mathematics;  or  the  substitution  may  be  an  impersonal  object,  as 
art,  science,  religion  or  philosophy  for  its  own  development.  Sub- 
stitutions vary  in  their  protective  value  for  preventing  a  recurrence 


122  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

of  the  affective  disappointment,  and,   further,  though   successful 
during  part  of  a  career  they  may  fail  later  on. 

Certain  forms  of  compensatory  striving  should  also  be  consid- 
ered as  forms  of  affective  sublimation.  The  anal  erotic  child  may 
become  eccentrically  fond  of  perfumes  or  colors  when  he  matures. 
Children  who  are  delighted  by  cruelty  and  suffering  may,  as  adults, 
preach  generosity  and  pity  for  criminals.  The  sexually  impotent 
male  may  become  a  great  inventor  (creator),  which  is  a  very  com- 
mon compensatory  trend  of  the  semi-impotent. 

A  most  important  force  in  the  development  and  refinement  of 
the  personality  is  the  art  of  suitably  withholding  or  restraining  the 
gratification  of  a  wish  or  craving  as  well  as  cultivating  its  genesis. 
By  restricting  certain  wishes,  the  personality  retains  a  dynamic  urge 
which  may  be  iso  directed  that  more  difficult  work  may  be  accom- 
plished than  if  the  wish  is  permitted  an  early  freedom  and  the  pres- 
sure of  the  additional  craving  is  lost.  One  may  see  this  demon- 
strated by  individuals  when  they  have  a  keen  desire  to  tell  or  do 
something,  and,  after  having  once  accomplished  the  act,  a  repetition 
becomes  labor.  When  the  dog  is  hungry,  he  is  a  keener  hunter. 
Many  great  producers  of  fine  things  owe  their  inspirations  to  some 
associate  who  was  inaccessible  but  inspiring. 

When  the  post-adolescent  loves,  he  plainly  shows  a  consistent 
urge  to  develop  and  demonstrate  excellent  personal  qualities  and 
perform  creative  work — as  biological  demonstrations  of  heroic  po- 
tency. 

Occasionally,  work  drags,  not  from  fatigue,  but  from  the  need 
of  a  wish  that  will  speed  things  up.  Then,  quite  unexpectedly,  one 
finds  himself  entertaining  a  vigorous  urge  to  undertake  or  finish 
a  piece  of  work.  Under  such  conditions  in  myself,  I  have  been  able 
to  find  the  source,  after  a  little  retrospection,  usually  in  fear  of 
losing  an  object,  although  I  did  not  recognize  the  fear  reaction  at 
the  time  of  its  onset.  Only  the  compensatory  urge  to  get  busy  was 
recognized  until  a  self -analysis  was  made. 

The  man  who  refrains  from  accepting  substitutions  for  the  needs 
of  his  wishes  usually  has  an  excess  of  ungratified  wishes  that  are 
displayed  in  his  energetic  seeking.  Most  people  who  lack  power 
and  energy  have  never  learned  to  conserve  their  wishes  or  energic 
resources.  They  either  suppress  them  or  waste  them  on  substitu- 
tions. It  seems  that  when  the  wish  is  controlled  but  allowed  to 
assert  itself  a  tendency  to  refine  the  means  results,  as  in  the  selec- 
tion of  words  to  best  fit  a  subject  and  the  audience. 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE   FUNCTIONS   UPON   BEHAVIOR         123 

Affective  Coordination  and  Re'enforcement — Acquisitive  and  Avert- 
ive  Capacities  of  the  Personality 

Upon  the  nature  of  the  conditioning  of  the  affective  or  auto- 
nomic cravings,  it  has  been  shown,  depends  the  personaHty's  devel- 
opment of  virility,  goodness  and  happiness.  The  conditioned  affec- 
tive reactions  are  the  brick  and  mortar  out  of  which  the  architecture 
of  the  personahty  is  constructed.  When  they  are  so  conditioned  in 
infancy  and  youth  that  their  acquisitive  and  avertive  strivings  in 
maturity  are  conducive  to  virility,  goodness  and  happiness  the  world 
says  "there  goes  a  man."  Though  it  takes  at  least  three  genera- 
tions to  make  a  man,  every  succeeding  generation  must  sustain  its 
own  manhood  through  work  or  surely  the  individual,  the  family, 
and  the  race  must  regress  to  a  lower  phylogenetic  level  through 
atrophy  of  disuse. 

Obviously  the  strong  man  is  he  who  is  relatively  free  from  con- 
flicting affective  cravings — whose  primary  affections  are  so  condi- 
tioned that  their  energies  reenforce  each  other  in  their  strivings  to 
mould  the  earth  to  the  desire — whose  minor  affective  repressions 
are  such  that  the  reflex  compensatory  strivings  fit  him  truly  into  his 
social  group.  Then  he  becomes  a  potent,  constructive  member  of 
society.  Upon  the  conditioning  of  the  avertive  and  acquisitive  needs 
of  the  affective  cravings  in  infancy  are  superimposed  the  condition- 
ings in  childhood,  in  adolescence,  and  in  maturity,  as  the  personality 
grows  through  its  biological  stages. 

A  scattering  of  the  needs  of  wishes  or  cravings  retards  specializa- 
tion of  function,  but  excessive  specialization  produces  atrophy  of  dis- 
use of  other,  perhaps  vital,  personal  or  social  interests.  Work  is  felt 
as  play  so  long  as  the  personality  must  not  strive  to  keep  repressed  a 
contradictory,  inharmonious  craving  particularly  of  a  primary  na- 
ture, such  as  hatred,  sorrow,  shame,  fear,  or  love.  The  repressive, 
one-sided  life  of  a  Fabre,  though  its  specialized  strivings  have  the 
stamp  of  genius,  can  only  be  an  inspiration  to  those  who  are  affec- 
tively similarly  constituted. 

The  affective  urge  to  talk  will  talk  even  though  the  tongue  and 
throat  be  swollen  and  ulcerated  by  cancer.  Affective  aversions  for 
talking  will  prevent  talking  although  the  vocal  cords  are  anatomic- 
ally perfect.  Excuses  (reasons)  need  only  be  found  to  justify  the 
free  play  or  restriction  of  the  wish.  The  tendency  to  over  utilize 
or  depress  the  function  of  a  particular  organ,  for  which  the  affec- 
tions are  conditioned  to  have  acquisitive  or  avertive  tendencies,  may 
cause  the  hypertrophy  or  destruction  of  the  biological  potency  of 
the  organ  and  even  the  individual,  as  the  child  deforming  its  face 


124  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

by  pulling  its  nose  to  the  right  or  by  sucking  its  finger,  or,  in  the  oral 
erotic  cutting  his  throat  or  refusing  to  eat.  This  principle  of  affec- 
tive striving  also  determines  the  selection  of  vocational  interests  and 
the  acquisition  of  particular  kinds  of  knowledge.  The  compensa- 
tory strivings  that  endure  consistently  for  years  in  order  to  cover 
an  organ  inferiority,  or  another  affective  inferiority,  are  to  be  found 
in  every  personality.  The  stuttering  youth  Demosthenes  became  an 
orator.  The  child  that  has  a  retarded  speech  development  in  in- 
fancy often  becomes  a  linguist. 

The  avertive  tendencies  not  only  retard  the  acquisition  of  knowl- 
edge or  skill  but  they  in  themselves  constitute  an  enormous  quotient 
of  the  energic  capacities  of  the  individual  which  may  be  turned  in 
the  opposite,  asocial  direction.  It  reminds  one  of  the  result  when  a 
regiment  surrenders  its  guns  and  ammunition  to  the  enemy.  An 
individual  becomes  a  dullard  when  parents,  collegiate,  social,  or 
business  obligations  compel  him  to  acquire  the  necessities  of  life 
through  a  vocational  means  for  which  he  feels  persistent  aversions. 
No  power  or  influence  under  the  sun  can  change  the  affective  aver- 
sions without  changing  the  significance  of  the  object.  So  soon  as 
the  vocational  means  and  the  object  become  adjusted  to  suit  the  pri- 
mary acquisitive  cravings,  the  personality  develops  its  efficiency  and 
accomplishments  in  leaps  and  bounds  that  amaze  the  observer  and 
the  individual  himself.  Theherd  joyfully  exclaims:  "He  has  found 
himself." 

Old  men  and  women  of  the  Kentucky  mountains  trudged  the 
moonlighted  trails  to  the  township  schools  to  learn  to  read  and  write 
in  order  to  acquire  the  affective  gratification  to  be  had  from  reading 
the  letters  of  their  absent  children.  The  rate  of  learning  of  men 
and  women  of  seventy  astonished  the  educational  world.  There  is 
no  such  thing  as  being  too  old  or  too  stupid  to  learn  when  the  object 
fits  the  vital  acquisitive  needs  of  the  personality.  In  such  light 
one  is  never  able  to  forgive  the  hideous  impositions  of  useless, 
pseudo-knowledge  forced  upon  the  student  by  many  sterilized,  aca- 
demic courses  of  education. 

It  is  well  known  that  in  efficiency  tests  by  controlled  word  asso- 
ciation test,  unpleasant  reaction  words  consume  time  because  they 
reflexly  arouse  a  tendency  to  suppress  them  which  conflicts  with 
the  tendency  to  speak  them.  Dr.  M.  E.  Haggerty  and  I  found  (39), 
in  a  class  of  male  and  female  students  of  psychology,  that,  although 
the  females  were  more  efficient  in  the  Woodworth  and  Wells  can- 
cellation tests,  naming  tests,  substitution  test,  and  two-direction  tests, 
they  were  less  efficient  in  the  series  of  controlled  word  association 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE   FUNCTIONS   UPON   BEHAVIOR         I25 

tests,  apparently  because  it  was  necessary  to  be  "  on  guard  "  against 
embarrassing  associations  due  to  the  greater  severity  of  social  cen- 
sorship for  the  overt  behavior  of  female  than  for  the  male. 

Curiosity  and  ambition  are  manifestations  of  freely  working 
affective  cravings.  There  are  two  types  of  curiosity  and  ambition 
which  distinguish  men  and  women  more  definitely  than  the  pigment 
in  the  skin  or  the  contour  of  bones.  Individuals  who  strive  chiefly 
to  hide  an  ineflFaceable  sense  of  inferiority  and  attain  social  advan- 
tages for  self-aggrandizement ;  and  individuals  who  strive  and  work 
for  the  sheer  joy  of  self  and  racial  improvement. 

In  the  latter  the  standard  of  fitness  and  worth  rests  solely  upon 
the  indelible  sense  of  work  well  done.  The  great  secret  of  educa- 
tion lies  in  the  conditioning  and  freedom  of  affective  functioning. 
Since  the  affective  or  autonomic  reactions  are  so  conditioned  that  the 
pursuit  of  happiness  develops  means  and  ends  that  are  either  harm- 
ful or  beneficial  to  the  self  and  civilization,  the  future  educator  and 
psychologist  must  see  to  the  nature  of  the  individual's  conditioned 
affective  reactions — and  his  insight. 

Love  is  the  most  consistently  potent  of  the  affective  cravings. 
The  personality  always  grows  in  the  direction  of  love's  acquisitive 
needs,  though  its  social  course  may  be  zigzagged  by  fears,  hatred, 
shame,  pride  and  grief.  The  ultimate  reason  for  all  purposive  beha- 
vior contains  a  vital  determinant  which,  if  the  individual  is  honestly 
frank,  is  easily  traceable  to  love.  When  love  is  so  conditioned  that 
only  those  love-objects  which  are  characteristic  of  maturity  will 
give  satisfaction,  the  personality  becomes  creative  and  self-sacrific- 
ing. 

Matured  love,  in  order  to  acquire  its  object,  must  create  and 
cherish.  Because  of  this  the  child  should  be  permitted  to  acquire 
true  insight ;  should  be  educated  to  understand  itself,  to  live  for  its 
maturity  and  should  be  so  trained  that  fear  and  anger  will  be  aroused 
by  that  which  threatens  to  deprive  love  of  its  goal.  And  love  should 
not  be  directed  by  repressions  of  shame.  It  should  be  so  finely 
poised  and  conditioned  as  to  be  independent  of  social  fears.  Since 
the  needs  of  the  individual  are  so  complicated  that  society  is  neces- 
sary to  gratify  them  the  creativeness  of  love  must  include  society's 
welfare  as  well  as  that  of  the  immediate  love-object.  Our  neighbors 
must  have  fine  families  in  order  that  our  children  shall  develop  finely 
and  mate  well. 

The  influence  of  associates  is  genetic  because  of  the  tendency  of 
the  affective  reactions  in  a  group  of  individuals  to  imitate  one  another. 
The  eternal  necessity  for  the  harmonious  behavior  of  the  herd  in  its 


126  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

Struggle  for  existence  is  obviously  the  phylogenetic  source  of  this 
tendency  in  man.  Men  and  women  tend  to  flock  into  cliques,  socie- 
ties, fraternities,  churches  according  to  the  acquisitive  or  avertive 
needs  of  love.  Behind  the  ambitious  strivings  of  youth  is  always 
the  compelling  desire  to  fit  himself  for  the  winning  of  the  love- 
object.  The  mental  image  of  this  goal  becomes  the  spur  of  ambi- 
tion, and  his  toughened  courage  makes  the  final  achievement  a  pos- 
sibility. All  other  laurels  and  accomplishments,  no  matter  how 
finely  they  reflect  upon  the  progress  of  civilization,  are  but  incidental 
means  for  the  winning  of  the  love-object,  and  the  love-object,  in 
itself,  is  but  the  most  satisfactory  means  for  the  autonomic  appa- 
ratus to  fulfill  its  biological  career.  The  scientist  in  his  hermitage 
nurses  his  ants,  germs  and  electrons,  as  he  searches  to  rediscover 
the  cradle's  secret  of  happiness.  All  men  and  women  are  interested 
in  but  one  ultimate  secret,  the  genesis  of  potency,  of  life. 

The  asylums  and  the  streets  are  filled  with  adults  who  have  been 
unable  to  transcend  the  love  cravings  of  infancy.  The  slums  and 
tenderloin  swarm  with  the  victims  of  unhappy  childhood ;  wander- 
ing heroes  who  crave,  insatiably,  to  eat  the  dirt  of  the  world. 

For  them,  competition  and  restraint,  in  order  to  attain  a  state  of 
social  creativeness,  is  impossible.  They  must  be  flattered  and  petted 
like  children  to  prevent  anxiety  and  confusion.  Their  voices,  words 
and  manners  betray  the  infantile  posture  of  the  aflPect  which  has 
become  fixed  if  one  will  but  see  through  the  compensatory  demon- 
stration of  toughness  and  braggadocio.  In  many,  disastrous  griev- 
ances came  when  the  social  pressure  to  break  away  from  parental 
dependance  was  resisted  by  a  fixed  attachment.  In  order  to  avoid 
anxiety,  confusion,  and  dissociation  of  the  personality  they  have  had 
to  live  so  all  things  might  possibly  some  time  be  theirs  in  order  that 
one  thing  might  be  found.  Like  an  Emperor  of  Dreamland,  the 
dementia  praecox  marries  his  mother  and  rules  his  world,  in  his 
fancies.  For  imbridled  debauches  in  a  world  of  imagery,  he  aban- 
dons forever  the  realities  of  life.  Through  disuse,  his  hands  and 
his  muscles  become  as  soft  as  an  infant's ;  most  unlike  the  postural 
tonus  of  virility. 

The  physical  attributes  of  the  individual,  though  pertinent,  are 
always  secondary  to  character  formation.  We  find,  right  and  left, 
in  every  social  state,  every  variety  of  character  in  every  variety  of 
body  of  both  sexes.  When  compensatory  strivings  for  physical 
inferiorities  do  occur,  we  find  that  the  inferiority  resisted  the  ful- 
fillment of  the  individual's  affective  cravings.  Similar  autonomic 
tensions  show  similar  behavioristic  symptoms,  even  though  indi- 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE  FUNCTIONS   UPON  BEHAVIOR         127 

viduals  vary  in  race,  caste  and  physique.  The  primary  emotions 
(hunger,  fear,  hate,  love)  of  birds,  animals  and  man  cause  very  simi- 
lar postures  and  overt  movements. 

Psychoanalytic  studies  of  character  formation  have  revealed,  as 
the  experiences  and  feelings  are  recalled,  that,  in  every  case  analyzed, 
the  reactions  of  today  were  partly  determined  by  the  reactions  of 
yesterday,  and  so  on  back,  down  the  years,  through  adolescence  and 
infancy.  This  does  not  establish,  finally,  the  inheritance  of  the  fun- 
damental traits,  but  throws  the  foundation  of  character  formation 
upon  the  parents  or  guardians  of  childhood.  Critical  physiological 
conditions  and  the  influence  of  associates  subtly  condition  the  affec- 
tive adjustments  in  infancy  as  the  sculptor  moulds  his  clay.  Earlier 
reactions  may  later  determine  affective  repressions,  and,  gradually, 
as  the  clay  hardens,  so  the  affections  of  maturity  become  fixed. 

The  Image  of  Reality. 

Frazer  (40,  p.  52  ff),  after  collecting  an  enormous  series  of  ob- 
servations of  the  customs  and  rituals  of  savages  and  primitive  peoples, 
formulated  the  inference  that  the  event  which  it  is  desired  to  bring 
about  is  represented  dramatically,  and  the  very  representation,  it  is 
believed,  effects,  or,  at  least,  contributes  to,  the  production  of  the 
desired  event.  It  is  an  old  axiom  in  psychology  that  when  a  desire 
is  inhibited  it  causes  discomforts  and  anxiety.  The  value  of  pro- 
ducing the  event  in  imagery  has  obviously  a  psychotherapeutic  effect 
upon  the  uncomfortable  savage,  as  well  as  the  civilized  man. 

Frazer  reports  that  certain  savages,  who  wished  to  be  strong  and 
difficult  to  hold  in  combat,  attached  pieces  of  ox  hide  to  their  para- 
phernalia and  an  amulet  of  frog's  skin  to  their  bodies. 

Some  preadolescent  boys,  who  were  training  themselves  to  do 
acrobatic  stuns  in  their  penny  circus,  rubbed  themselves  with  a  paste 
they  made  out  of  cooked  angleworms.  They  declared  it  made  them 
"  limber." 

A  young  girl,  who  was  obsessed  with  fear  that  her  mother  might 
die  while  away  on  a  journey,  saved  a  glass  of  water  from  which 
the  mother  drank  before  starting.  The  mother  having  partaken  of 
the  water,  seemed  to  cause  it  to  become  a  part  of  her  and  through 
preserving  it  the  child  comforted  herself,  despite  her  obsessive  fears, 
with  feelings  that  by  her  act  she  was  saving  her  mother's  life. 

Frazer  concluded  from  his  data  that  one  of  the  principles 
of  sympathetic  magic  is  that  any  effect  may  be  produced  by  imitat- 
ing it.     This  is  certainly  the  underlying  principle  of  modem  ritual- 


128  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

istic  religion.  Psychologically  it  is  however  only  another  manifes- 
tation of  the  conditioned  needs  of  the  affective  sensori-motor  system 
obtaining  comfort  through  substitutions. 

Any  affect  produces  unrest,  perhaps  anxiety  and  discomfort, 
until  it  is  neutralized  by  the  acquisition  of  adequate  stimuli.  Then 
a  pleasing  feeling  of  potency  suffuses  the  organism.  When  these 
stimuli  cannot  be  extracted  from  the  environment  images  or  symbols 
are  substituted  which  are  identified  by  associations  of  similarity  or 
contiguity  with  the  desired  reality.  In  proportion  as  they  approach 
the  reality  they  give  comfort  and  affective  rest.  This  is  the  affec- 
tive process  that  determines  the  behavior  of  savages,  girls,  boys, 
all  men  and  women.  It  is  this  affective  principle  that  creates  art. 
Rodin's  le  Penseur,  and  Pygmalion  and  Galatea,  as  well  as  Shaw's 
Pygmalion,  may  be  recognized  as  reproductions  of  themselves.  The 
fashion  designs  of  Erte  are  his  crucificial  self  in  monk's  clothing. 
Mona  Lisa's  smile  was  the  recreation  of  Leonardo  Da  Vinci's 
mother's  smile  (41)  and  Darwin's  inspiration  for  the  origin  of 
species  and  theory  of  evolution  are  easily  traceable  to  his  mother's 
fascinating  riddle  propounded  to  him  before  he  was  eight  years  old, 
that  by  looking  ^'inside"  of  the  flower  one  can  read  its  "name," 
secret  of  its  origin. 

When  some  one  who  is  dear  to  us  dies,  we  derive  great  comfort 
from  dreams  in  which  he  appears  as  alive  and  happy.  The  psycho- 
path often  experiences  comfort  from  his  hallucinations  and  delu- 
sions. An  impotent,  auto-erotic,  dementia  praecox  male  derived 
great  pleasure  from  rubbing  a  stick  with  his  fingers,  claiming  that 
it  furnished  power  for  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad.  (This  patient 
wore  out  one  stick  after  another.)  The  hallucination  or  delusion 
may  cause  great  anxiety  and  still  be  a  wish  fulfillment  that  gratifies 
a  repressed  affective  craving.  The  analysis  of  wishes  for  the  death 
of  people,  dreams  about  friends  and  relatives  dying,  obsessive  fears, 
and  compulsions  have  demonstrated  this.  A  woman,  who  could  not 
induce  herself  to  sue  for  a  divorce,  which  she  wanted,  was  horri- 
fied to  dream  of  the  death  of  her  child.  It  bound  her  to  the  mar- 
riage and  later  in  her  psychosis  she  worried  about  the  child  being 
killed  or  kidnapped. 

The  mechanism  of  the  hallucination  in  the  insane  is  not  essen- 
tially different  from  the  ordinary  mechanism  of  mistaking  a  stranger 
for  some  friend  or  enemy.  The  savage's  adoption  of  imagery  is 
the  same  in  principle  as  our  passion  for  photographs,  reminders, 
souvenirs. 

The  functional  psychoses  were  utterly  unintelligible  until  observers 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE  FUNCTIONS   UPON  BEHAVIOR         129 

learned  that  the  behavioristic  expressions  and  symbolic  content  of 
consciousness  of  the  psychotic  could  be  so  correlated  as  to  show 
that  they  gratified  certain  intense,  unmodifiable  biological  cravings. 
It  has  been  found  that  the  psychopathic  personality  has  become 
more  or  less  dissociated  because  of  his  conflicting  motives  or  affec- 
tive needs.  In  each  instance  the  more  dominant  biological  motives, 
because  of  this  conditioning,  required  for  their  gratification  stimuli 
of  a  definite  nature  and  frequently  from  socially  tabooed  objects, 
so  that  the  social  motives  of  the  personality  could  not  tolerate  their 
acquisition.  The  irrepressible  biological  cravings  then  apparently 
obtained  gratification  through  the  utilization  of  sensory  images  (hal- 
lucinations, symbols  and  delusions)  instead  of  actual  sensations  pro- 
duced by  exogenous  stimuli.  The  endogenous  sensory  disturbances 
were  given  the  vividness  and  persistence  of  reality  by  the  cravings. 

The  opponents  of  the  pleasure-pain  conception  may  hold  that, 
although  throughout  biology  the  great  dynamic  principle  is  to  avoid 
the  painful  stimulus  and  acquire  the  pleasure-giving  stimulus,  in  man 
at  least  a  contradiction  is  to  be  observed  when  he  sacrifices  his  best 
interests  to  duty.  Careful  consideration  does  not  support  the  in- 
ference that  even  then  any  other  than  the  pain-pleasure  principle 
exists.  The  mother  suffers  injury  to  save  her  young  because  her 
own  danger  is  a  lesser  pain  than  the  perils  of  her  helpless  young. 
The  death  of  the  hero  in  the  trenches  is  an  accident  of  his  business 
and  not  a  wish  fulfillment.  He  goes  there  to  fight,  and  dies  by  acci- 
dent. In  instances  where  self-sacrificial  death  occurs,  the  affective- 
state  is  such  that  the  self-sacrifice  may  be  a  pleasure.  Suicide  is 
often  a  measure  of  relief  from  pain. 

Individuals  may  strive  in  pain  and  poverty,  like  saints  and  heroes, 
for  an  ostensibly  impersonal  object.  Although  they  do  not  ask  for 
honor  or  glory,  their  associates  are  quick  to  encourage  them  with 
reminders  that  it  is  coming.  Should  some  one  apparently  less  de- 
serving get  first  honor,  then  the  pleasure-seeking  motive  for  the 
sacrifice  is  exposed  in  the  protest  and  discontent,  as  in  the  mortal 
feuds  of  saints,  philosophers,  scientists,  statesmen,  kings,  ministers^ 
politicians,  athletes,  and  tramps,  for  honors. 

Tait  (42,  p.  31)  found  in  a  series  of  studies  on  (i)  the  capacity 
to  remember  pleasant  and  unpleasant  words,  (2)  the  capacity  to  re- 
call a  list  of  indifferent  words  after  having  something  pleasant  read' 
to  the  subject,  and  another  list,  after  having  something  unpleasant 
read,  and  (3)  remembering  pleasant  and  unpleasant  colors,  that 
(I)  "Pleasant  impressions  are  remembered  better  than  unpleasant^. 


130  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

and  both  are  remembered  better  than  indifferent  ones";  (II)  "Not 
only  are  such  impressions  themselves  remembered,  but  they  seem  to 
exert  the  same  influence  on  other  material.  Unpleasant  impressions 
have  the  opposite  effect,  that  is,  they  exert  a  repressing  influence 
on  other  impressions." 

This  characteristic  of  learning  is  only  another  demonstration  that 
every  affective  state  has  a  dual  nature  toward  the  environment: 
that  is,  the  tendency  to  acquire  neutralizing  stimuli  and  to  avoid 
the  stimuli  that  do  not  have  a  neutralizing  capacity  for  the  peculiar 
needs  of  the  affective  state.  The  autonomic  apparatus  maintains  its 
equilibrium  through  the  simultaneous  seeking  of  its  many  cravings 
for  gratification. 

The  Acquisitive  and  Avertive  Affective  Needs  and  the  Recall  of 
Impressions  of  Experiences  {Memory). 

In  the  study  of  the  psychoneuroses  (15)  it  has  been  found  that 
the  affective  state  seems  to  determine  the  degree  of  sensitiveness  of 
the  receptor  for  the  stimulus  as  the  affect  tends  to  avoid  or  use  its 
stimulus.  This  is  probably  the  process  of  attention  and  gives  us  a 
possible  clue  to  the  physiological  nature  of  memory.  At  any  mo- 
ment, we  are  aware  of  only  an  extremely  small  portion  of  our  ex- 
periences or  memory  capacity.  The  awareness  shades  from  central 
interests  like  the  glow  of  a  light  in  the  night,  to  the  waning  subcon- 
scious periphery  and  on  into  the  total  darkness  of  unconsciousness. 
As  the  affective  stream  winds  its  way  here  and  there  through  the 
environment,  the  content  of  consciousness  is  changed  in  vividness 
and  kind  of  sensory  images  to  suit  the  acquisitive  and  avertive 
needs  of  the  affective  stream.  Its  resistance  is  lowered  or  raised 
to  the  functions  of  different  divisions  of  the  organism,  as  it  uses 
the  final  common  motor  paths,  and  this  determines  the  kinesthetic 
stream's  nature.  This  suggests,  therefore,  that,  if  an  essential  ele- 
ment of  thought  is  the  kinesthetic  image  of  movement  from  motor- 
sensory  postural  functions,  forgetting  is  a  form  of  physiological  or 
functional  anesthesia  due  to  autonomic-affective  resistance  for  the 
receptor  group  or  motor-sensory  functions  which  would  produce  the 
unsatisfactory  kinesthetic  sensations  and  the  unsatisfactory  thought. 
The  recall  of  a  memory  or  sensory  image  is  the  affective  process 
lowering  its  threshold  of  reaction  to  the  functions  that  have  been 
previously  avoided.  Absolute  forgetting  is,  perhaps,  then,  a  form 
of  atrophy  of  disuse. 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE   FUNCTIONS   UPON  BEHAVIOR         I3I 

The  Affective  Functions  and  the  Content  of  Consciousness 

Since  we  are  never  conscious  without  being  conscious  of  some- 
thing, it  is  necessary  to  consider  consciousness  and  its  content  as 
one  phenomenon. 

Consciousness  of  self,  as  an  awareness  of  the  self,  occurs  in  the 
same  manner  as  consciousness  of  a  complex  of  exogenous  stimuli, 
i.  e.,  a.  situation.  That  is,  awareness  of  the  self  exists  in  the  form 
of  a  stream  of  vague  endogenous  activities  in  which  some  especially 
vivid  feelings  or  sensations  are  in  the  ascendency  for  the  moment, 
and  are  accepted  as  being  representative  of  the  zvhole.  The  activi- 
ties producing  consciousness  of  self  are  endogenous  to  the  body, 
and  awareness  occurs  only  when  the  physical  activities  are  such  as 
to  produce  (sensory)  reactions  in  the  receptors  which  are  adequate 
to  arouse  affective  responses.  When  no  receptors  exist  to  react  to 
a  particular  type  of  stimulation  or  irritation,  no  awareness  occurs. 
It  seems  that  no  matter  what  the  fantastic  nature  of  thought,  we 
can  become  aware  of  nothing  but  the  activities  of  our  receptors. 
On  the  other  hand,  even  though  the  receptor  is  adequately  stimu- 
lated and  the  central  and  autonomic  neurone  system  reacts  strongly, 
as  shown  by  the  experiments  of  Netschaier  and  Wertheimer  (4,  p. 
19),  no  awareness  occurs  if  an  anesthetic  prevents  the  higher  asso- 
ciation tracts  from  integrating  the  body  into  a  unity.  Crile  (16,  p. 
6)  demonstrated  that  nerve  cells  in  the  cerebellum  showed  molec- 
ular changes  of  the  disintegrating  type  upon  prolonged  painful 
stimulation  during  deep  anesthesia.  He  has  also  shown  that,  if  the 
afferent  neurone  is  "  blocked  "  with  novocaine,  no  awareness  of  vig- 
orous stimulation  of  the  shut-off  receptors  occurs.  One  may  have 
an  inflammatory  process  somewhere  on  the  surface  of  the  body  or 
within  it  for  several  hours  or  days  without  becoming  aware  of  it, 
although  quite  marked  physical  disturbances  are  occurring.  When 
awareness  does  occur  in  such  cases,  the  organism  begins  to  adjust 
itself  as  a  unity  to  the  special  activities  of  the  inflamed  part.  Simi- 
larly one  is  only  intermittently  aware  of  a  repeated  stimulus  such 
as  the  ticking  clock,  or  a  constant  stimulus  such  as  the  pressure  of 
the  hand  on  the  paper  as  one  writes.  Manifold  other  afferent  cur- 
rents which  are  subliminally  active  at  the  same  time  do  not  cause 
distinct  awareness  until  some  one  part,  like  the  cramped  foot,  as 
the  stretched  or  compressed  parts  become  hyperactive,  finally  causes 
the  organism  as  a  whole  to  make  an  adjustment.  Awareness  of 
the  cramped  foot  need  not  occur  when  a  simple  reflex  adjustment  is 
sufficient  to  relieve  it.  One  may  be  seated  in  a  position  so  that  the 
foot  may  be  extended  for  relief  without  other  segments  of  the  body 


132  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

making  adjustment.  Then  no  awareness  occurs.  If,  however,  it 
finally  becomes  necessary  for  the  whole  body  to  adjust  then  aware- 
ness occurs  concomittantly  as  the  adjustment  proceeds,  and  to  the 
degree  that  an  adjustment  becomes  necessary  by  the  body  as  a  unity. 

When  one  is  conscious  of  a  complex  object,  as  a  desk,  only 
some  of  its  attributes  are  producing  awareness,  like  its  color,  form 
and  style,  perhaps  its  material,  while  its  contents  or  mechanisms  are 
unnoticed.  The  attributes  which  cause  awareness,  however,  are 
usually  accepted  to  represent  the  whole.  This  holds  true  for  a 
cigar,  a  flower,  a  country,  the  stars.  Woodworth  (43,  p.  15)  holds 
that  for  himself  "all  recall  is  of  facts  previously  noted  freed  from 
the  concrete  setting  in  which  they  occurred  when  noted." 

Similarly,  when  we  are  conscious  of  ourselves  we  are  actually 
only  conscious  of  a  very  small  part  of  our  activities  or  attributes 
at  the  moment  and  they  represent  the  self  as  a  unity.  We  may  be 
conscious  of  ourselves  through  a  headache,  an  error,  dress,  failure 
of  movements,  successful  movements,  compensatory  respirations, 
stiffness  of  the  eyes,  the  visceral  tensions  of  the  moment,  etc.  When 
we  are  conscious  of  reproducing  a  past  experience,  only  certain  de- 
tails of  the  experience  are  recalled,  which  we  usually  consider, 
without  hesitancy,  to  be  representative  of  the  whole. 

In  consciousness  of  self  or  of  the  environment,  usually,  those 
attributes  of  the  self  or  of  the  environment  that  happen  to  be  caus- 
ing the  strongest  reactions  of  the  moment  represent  the  self  or  the 
object  as  a  whole.  Consciousness  or  awareness  at  any  moment 
is  the  reaction  of  the  organism  as  a  unity  to  the  special  activity  of 
any  one  or  several  of  its  receptor  fields.  The  content  of  conscious- 
ness is  the  special  activity  of  any  or  several  of  the  receptors  of  the 
organism,  and  this  particular  state  of  activity  of  the  receptor  may 
be  considered  as  sensational. 

The  reaction  threshold  of  the  body  as  a  whole  for  a  receptor  may 
be  attained  by  increasing  to  a  special  degree  the  activity  of  a  recep- 
tor, overcoming  the  affective  resistance,  or  by  decreasing  the  affec- 
tive resistance,  until  it  reacts  to  a  subliminal  stimulus,  as  in  strong 
hunger  and  poor  food.  In  psychoneuroses,  wherever  diminished 
sensitivity  of  a  receptor-field  is  complained  of,  upon  an  adequate 
psychoanalysis,  we  find  an  affective  aversion  or  resistance  for  the 
receptor's  functions.  On  the  other  hand,  where  hypersensitiveness 
of  a  receptor-field  is  causing  discomfort,  we  find  an  increase  of 
affective  acquisitiveness  for  the  particular  receptor  group — as  the 
aches  of  the  "  railroad  spine  "  until  an  indemnity  has  been  received, 
or  the  painful  vision  in  the  incestuous  peeper.     When  we  force  our- 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE  FUNCTIONS   UPON  BEHAVIOR         1 33 

selves  to  study  a  definite  subject  affective  resistances  are  brought 
into  play  in  order  to  raise  the  reaction  threshold  for  all  our  receptor- 
fields  except  the  visual  or  auditory,  so  as  to  enable  the  affective 
cravings  to  acquire  only  certain  stimuli.  The  affective  craving  may 
even  specialize  on  certain  forms  of  stimuli  of  a  receptor  field  and 
block  out  all  others,  as  the  sleeping  mother's  response  to  a  baby's 
cry.  (Her  fear  becomes  conditioned  to  react  to  certain  auditory 
stimuli.) 

The  resistances  to  disconcerting  stimuli,  when  we  are  trying  to 
study,  are  usually  a  mild  form  of  aversion  in  the  sense  that  we  tend 
to  remove  them.  By  maintaining  a  resistant  posture,  which  is 
always  recognizable  because  of  its  characteristic  fixedness,  we  de- 
stroy the  usiial  potency  of  commonplace  stimuli,  as  when  we  refuse 
to  recognize  another's  remark  while  we  are  trying  to  study.  When 
the  affective  craving  is  intense,  as  in  love,  or  anger,  or  fear,  the 
organism  as  a  whole  cannot  comfortably  endure  awareness  of  any- 
thing that  does  not  pertain  to  the  neutralization  of  the  affective  dis- 
turbance, as  conservative  advice.  Innumerable  illustrations  may  be 
gathered  to  illustrate  the  fact  that  the  content  of  consciousness  is 
determined  by  the  autonomic-affective  cravings,  except,  perhaps, 
when  destructive  stimuli  press  themselves  upon  the  organism  and 
reflex  retractions  are  made.  Even  then  it  is  probable  that  the  or- 
ganism as  a  whole  does  not  begin  an  adjustment  until  the  autonomic 
apparatus  has  proceeded  with  characteristic  affective  reactions  of 
fear. 

All  forms  of  thought  or  knowledge,  no  matter  how  abbreviated 
or  abstract,  seem  to  be  analyzable  into  reactions  of  our  exteroceptors 
or  enteroceptors,  as  they  are  activated  by  exogenous  stimuli,  and  be- 
come qualified  by  our  proprioceptors  through  muscle  functions.  We 
understand  the  behavior  of  an  animal  or  individual  by  reflexly  imitat- 
ing it  with  postural  tensions.  Overt  movements  are  often  used  spon- 
taneously, particularly  by  children,  to  make  the  sensory  reproduc- 
tions more  distinct.  The  Greek  column,  because  of  the  astute  in- 
sight of  the  ancient  Greeks,  was  so  constructed  that  it  gave  a  com- 
fortable sense  of  balance  and  power  to  the  observer.  When  we  see 
objects  that  are  out  of  proportion  we  reflexly  (imitatively)  have 
feelings  which  are  out  of  balance  and  compensate  with  a  tendency  to 
correct  the  object,  so  as  to  give  ourselves  comfortable  feeling.  The 
phenomenon  of  course  only  becomes  apparent  to  one  who  learns  to 
recognize  it.  We  tire  of  people  who  cultivate  eccentric  poses,  be- 
cause we  must  resist  the  reflex  tendency  to  imitate  and  correct  them. 
Even  our  vocal  cords  and  muscle  tensions  react  to  their  drawling 


134  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

or  falsely  cast  voice  sounds.  The  embarrassed  speaker  embarrasses 
his  audience  and  one  may  hear  remarks  about  helping  him  through. 
We  are  thrilled  by  a  fine  Hamlet.  One  may  often  observe  the  un- 
conscious imitativeness  of  the  affective  functions  in  a  group  of  in- 
dividuals. In  the  imitative  facial  expressions  and  bodily  move- 
ments of  children  this  is  very  noticeable.  When  we  happen  to 
strike  a  posture  that  is  characteristic  of  some  one  whom  we  have 
known  quite  well  we  find  ourselves  thinking  of  him. 

The  child  learns  that  a  straight  line  is  the  shortest  distance  be- 
tween two  points  by  passing  a  part  of  the  body  or  the  entire  body 
between  two  points.  This  journey  must  usually  be  made  several 
times  before  the  axiomatic  conviction  is  attained.  We  are  con- 
vinced that  two  parallel  lines  will  never  meet  because,  as  we  project 
ourselves  into  space  along  two  parallel  lines,  we  remain  parallel  in 
our  projections.  Multiplication  and  division  are  abbreviated  forms 
of  addition  and  subtraction  through  movement.  All  mathematical 
calculation,  no  matter  how  abstract,  seems  to  be  dependent  upon  a 
specialization  of  muscle  sense — sense  of  movement  in  various  direc- 
tions from  a  common  center  and  of  multiple  movements  toward  a 
common  center — as  in  attaining  the  sense  of  proportions  of  an  ob- 
ject or  line  by  converging  the  fingers  upon  it  or  moving  a  glance 
of  the  eyes  over  it.  The  relative  size  or  value  of  two  objects 
is  compared  by  measuring  them  by  the  amoimt  of  muscle  energy 
necessary  to  lift,  circumvent,  move  or  make  the  objects,  or  how 
much  force  they  are  capable  of  enduring  or  exerting. 

The  content  of  consciousness,  in  the  form  of  complicated  ideas, 
is  dependent  largely  upon  the  simultaneous  centripetence  of  pro- 
prioceptive currents  from  manifold  sources  of  muscular  activity. 
This  may  be  observed  in  the  utilization  of  overt  movements  by  chil- 
dren as  they  describe  an  experience  or  in  the  behavior  of  adults  when 
they  have  to  reproduce  a  situation  in  order  to  explain  it  because  of 
loss  of  words.  When  individuals  have  fixed  ideas  a  fixed  postural 
attitude  is  noticeable.  Most  of  the  literature  one  may  read  is  de- 
voted to  imitative  interests  in  moving  objects,  from  baseball,  mathe- 
matics, imageless  thought,  war,  electrons,  expulsions  from  society, 
murders,  and  what  not.  The  construction  of  the  sentence  is  based 
on  the  nature  (adverbs  and  adjectives)  of  movement  (verb)  of 
something  (noun  and  object).  We  become  aware  of  the  meaning 
of  the  behavior  of  another  person  or  animal  in  proportion  as  we  are 
able  to  imitate  it.  When  we  can't  imitate  an  individual's  behavior 
we  are  at  a  loss  to  understand  it.  When  the  stage  hero  punishes 
the  villain  we  have  pleasant  visceral  and  muscle  sensations  if  we 
previously  felt  motives  to  do  likewise.     If  not  we  question  the 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE  FUNCTIONS   UPON  BEHAVIOR         1 35 

'justness'  or  the  art  of  the  dramatist.  If  the  killing  is  done  with 
neatness  and  dispatch,  say  after  a  fight  under  tremendous  handicaps, 
we  enthuse  with  potency.  I  asked  a  lady,  who  had  heard  lectures 
on  Othello,  read  the  tragedy  several  times  and  had  seen  it  drama- 
tized a  few  years  ago,  whether  or  not  Othello  killed  lago.  She  an- 
swered: "I  don't  remember.  I  guess  he  did."  I  asked,  "Why?" 
She  contemplated  further,  recalled  the  behavior  of  lago  and  Othello 
for  a  few  moments  and  continued  her  answer  "  Because  it  wouldn't 
seem  (feel)  right  if  he  didn't."  The  genius  of  Shakespeare,  how- 
ever, only  allows  Othello  to  wound  the  contemptible  lago  and  then 
devotes  the  next,  last,  8i  lines  to  a  most  tantalizing  conviction  of 
him  as  a  criminal.  Not  until  the  fourth  last  line  does  he  give  as- 
surances of  lago's  punishment  and  above  all  his  torture.  Appar- 
ently the  lady,  like  most  other  witnesses  of  the  play,  was  very  un- 
comfortable when  the  mighty  Othello  only  inflicted  a  puny,  bleeding 
wound  upon  the  "  demi-devil "  that  "  ensnared  his  soul  and  body." 
(Very  similar  answers  were  given  by  several  people  upon  being 
asked  whether  or  not  Othello  killed  lago.) 

When  the  lady  recalled  the  plot  she  did  so  with  "  ideas  "  about  it, 
but  probably  she  swiftly  reproduced  the  behavior  of  Othello  and 
lago  in  affective  images  and  muscle  tone  images  (kinesthetic)  of  the 
movements  of  the  act.  I  did  and  then  readjusted  myself  by  read- 
ing the  scene.  She  said  it  did  not  "seem  right,"  meaning  "feel 
right "  to  have  lago  escape. 

One  evening  at  the  movies  the  audience  watched  with  expectant 
excitement  a  disagreeable,  prospective  father-in-law  as  he  climbed 
among  the  branches  of  a  tall  tree,  apparently  greatly  frightened  by 
two  leopards  owned  by  the  undesirable,  prospective  son-in-law.  One 
of  the  leopards  climbed  rapidly  after  him  while  the  other  sat  expec- 
tantly at  the  foot  of  the  tree.  As  I  enjoyed  the  scene  I  was  thor- 
oughly conscious  of  strong  visceral  sensations  and  muscle  tensions. 
Evidences  of  similar  visceral  conditions  among  others  in  the  audience 
were  evident  from  the  giggles  and  exclamations.  The  panic- 
stricken  man  clutched  at  a  limb  above  him.  Unexpectedly  it 
snapped.  Down  went  his  body;  for  only  a  few  feet,  however,  be- 
cause his  leg,  unnoticed  by  us,  had  been  wrapped  around  a  lower 
limb  like  a  trapeze  performer's.  Instantly  our  gasps  from  fear  of 
the  consequences  of  the  fall  were  changed  to  convulsive  roars  of 
laughter  at  the  trick  played  with  our  feelings  (viscera). 

Only  those  sculptors,  artists,  dancers,  philosophers,  psychiatrists, 
musicians,  actors,  poets,  writers,  speakers  who  can  become  conscious 
of  relatively  pure,  in  the  sense  of  unalloyed,  emotions  can  ever 


136  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

express  them  clearly  in  images  or  interpret  them  when  they  occur 
in  others.  The  artist  whose  affective  repressions  and  resistances 
are  such  that  he  must  keep  his  true  self  obscured  in  his  work  can 
only  produce  empty  phrases  or  expressionless  figures. 

Today  my  stenographer  complained  of  making  numerous  mis- 
takes in  her  copy.  She  said  she  was  dropping  the  letter  "  s."  She 
was  astonished  when  I  asked  if  she  had  made  up  her  mind  to  drop 
someone  whose  name  began  with  "  S."  She  admitted  that  she  had. 
The  affective  aversion  for  S  had  not  yet  become  specialized  for  the 
particular  S-mith.  This  gradually  ocurred  after  numerous  recla- 
mations of  the  dropped  letter  "  s  "  permitted  a  desire  to  be  formed 
to  retain  all  letters  "  s  "  except  S-mith. 

We  know  Why,  How,  or  What  a  thing  is  by  Why,  How,  or  What 
it  is  not.  Our  knowledge  of  the  environment  depends  upon  our 
capacity  to  compare  and  contrast  stimuli.  When  one  receptor  field 
is  not  contributing  enough  information  as  to  an  object's  properties, 
all  organisms  having  multiple  receptor  fields  apply  them  respectively 
to  the  object  in  order  to  learn  its  due  affective  value. 

Primitive  man  learned  that  by  comparing  and  contrasting  objects 
additional  properties  of  things  could  be  learned.  Then  modern  man 
learned  that  still  further  knowledge  of  the  environment  could  be  ac- 
quired by  bringing  various  elements  in  the  environment  to  play 
upon  each  other  and  finally,  by  standardizing  a  series  of  materials 
by  which  all  others  are  to  be  compared,  as  by  the  formulation  of  a 
series  of  weights  and  measures,  scientific  or  exact  comparisons  and 
contrasts  were  systematized  and  greatly  extended. 

All  questions  of  Why,  How,  or  What  about  things  or  processes 
always  seem  to  receive  their  ultimate  answer  by  explaining  How 
things  occur.  I  know  not  ultimately  What  I  am  or  Why,  but  some- 
times I  think  I  know  How  I  do  things.  The  Why  of  one's  be- 
havior, implying  a  purpose,  is  readily  transposed  into  How  he  did 
the  thing  if  we  will  recognize  that  the  dynamic  factor  in  the  pur- 
pose, the  Why,  was  a  compelling  wish.  Then  purpose,  because  the 
force  of  the  desire  precedes  the  formal  thought,  becomes  a  mechan- 
ical question  of  How  the  particular  process  worked  in  the  indi- 
vidual's physiological  functions. 

The  correlation  of  the  stream  of  affectivity,  as  the  determinant 
of  the  thought  content  of  consciousness,  with  the  stream  of  affectivity 
which  determines  the  postural  tonus  of  the  skeletal  muscles,  becomes 
clear  in  the  concept  that  certain  forms  of  muscle  activity  largely  con- 
stitute the  thought  process  and  that  we  think  according  to  the  dic- 
tates of  our  wishes.     When  we  become  drowsy  and  as  we  fall  asleep 


INFLUENCE  OF  AFFECTIVE  FUNCTIONS   UPON  BEHAVIOR         I37 

our  postural  coordinations  become  so  dissociated  that  we  must  re- 
cline. As  the  postural  coordinations  dissociate  we  experience  a 
dissociation  of  thought  and  unrelated  sensory  images. 

The  destiny  and  comforts  of  the  individual  are  so  extensively 
interwoven  and  so  intimately  reciprocating  in  nature,  with  the  in- 
terests of  society,  that  almost  every  craving  and  adjustment  made 
by  the  individual  exacts  some  degree  of  response  from  the  social 
group.  Invariably  the  autoerotic,  for  example,  after  he  masturbates, 
entertains  strong  feelings  of  having  betrayed  the  welfare  of  society, 
and,  as  a  result,  is  inclined  to  become  apprehensive  and  suspect  per- 
secution and  punishment.  Such  mechanisms  also  occur  with  anger. 
When,  for  example,  an  angry  or  vicious  personal  criticism  is  indis- 
creetly made  about  some  one,  it  causes  the  assailant  to  feel  vague 
apprehensions  of  a  retaliation.  One  may  observe  individuals,  after 
such  remarks,  meet  the  unsuspecting  objects  of  their  assault  with  ill- 
concealed  discomfort. 

On  the  other  hand  a  stable  sense  of  dignity,  well-being  and 
friendliness  seems  to  result  from  work  well  done,  especially  when  it 
contributes  to  the  welfare  of  society.  This  is  particularly  true  for 
mechanical  forms  of  work — a  sublimation  of  the  hands.  One  ob- 
serves that  wherever  individuals  support  the  same  measures  or 
cause  for  the  same  affective  purposes  they  tend  to  meet  on  a  basis 
of  intimate  friendliness. 

The  economizing  tendency  of  such  affective  interests  may  be 
seen  as  the  underlying  motive  of  such  adjustments,  in  the  effort  to 
avoid  a  waste  of  power  and  assure  the  efficiency  of  power  as  it  exists. 

Some  may  wonder  how  this  correlates  with  the  behavior  of  a 
howling  mob  or  a  destructive  invasion.  In  the  behavior  of  such 
groups,  dominated  by  hilarious  joy  or  blind  rage,  one  may  recognize 
an  economizing  tendency  to  gratify  the  particular  affect,  in  the  mono- 
maniacal  concentration  of  power  and  interest. 

It  is  necessary  to  recognize  the  composite  nature  of  the  stream 
of  affectivity  and  its  manifold  needs.  A  destroyed  object  may 
please  anger  but  also  it  may  later  cause  sorrow  and  regret.  Because 
of  the  continuous  opposition  between  the  affective  cravings  the  tend- 
ency to  economize  power  and  refine  means  (movement  and  devices) 
must  appear  in  the  general  trend  of  adjustment  toward  improve- 
ment, because  substitutes  and  images  are  less  satisfactory  than  real- 
ity. The  substitute,  displeasing  some  of  the  affective  cravings,  tends 
to  be  progressively  perfected  until  it  pleases  all  of  the  affect.  The 
tendency  to  refine  the  affective  reactions  and  poise  them  more  deli- 
cately in  their  adjustments  is  also  characterized  by  conservation  and 


138  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

control  of  the  motor  resources  of  power  and  expression.     Hence 
the  utilitarian  restfulness  of  music  and  the  arts. 

The  mechanism  of  self-control  always  depends  upon  the  control 
of  the  content  of  consciousness  by  the  socialized  cravings  (the 
wishes  to  attain  social  esteem  which  constitute  the  ego),  substituting 
a  content  of  relatively  indifferent  value  until  the  affective  crisis  or 
painful  subject  has  been  passed.  This  is  the  protective  mechanism 
used  by  polite  society  in  conversation  as  well  as  by  the  psycho- 
neurotic. By  controlling  the  content  of  consciousness  the  organism 
tends  to  keep  itself  unconscious  of  a  vast  multitude  of  minor 
disagreeable  endogenous  as  well  as  exogenous  stimuli.  Soldiers  are 
inclined,  through  wit  and  nicknames,  to  apply  a  balm  of  humor  to 
the  dangers  and  privations  of  warfare. 


PART  IV 
Restatement  and  Some  General  Considerations 

A  review  of  the  structural  plan  of  multicellular  animals  and  the 
influences  upon  consciousness  of  the  autonomic  apparatus  shows  that 
the  autonomic  apparatus,  the  apparatus  that  assimilates,  conserves  and 
regulates  the  expenditure  of  energy,  determines  the  nature  of  the 
anatomical  construction  of  the  projicient  apparatus  through  the 
atrophy  of  disused  and  stabilization  of  the  useful  structures.  The 
constructive  and  destructive  processes  are  so  balanced  as  to  gener- 
ally prevent  excessive  hypertrophy  or  atrophy  of  the  necessary  parts. 
Excessive  hypertrophy,  for  example,  gradually  tends  to  disuse  and 
atrophic  reactions  follow  until  a  suitable  balance  of  function  is  rees- 
tablished; that  is,  if  the  orgnism  is  permitted  to  freely  choose  the 
lines  of  activity  in  a  favorable  environment. 

An  intimate  study  of  the  autonomic  functions  decidely  indi- 
cates that  the  affective  cravings  or  emotions  have  a  peripheral  origin 
in  certain  motorsensory  functions  of  the  autonomic  apparatus.  The 
nature  of  the  affective  craving  is  probably  determined  by  the  nature 
of  the  postural  tensions  of  the  autonomic  structures  that  happen  to 
be  involved,  and  the  autonomic  functions,  through  the  cravings 
aroused,  determine  the  avertive  and  acquisitive  interests  or  behavior 
of  the  organism. 

It  has  been  shown  that  various  autonomic  functions  may  be 
conditioned  in  the  laboratory  to  react  to  indifferent  stimuli  after 
they  have  been  duly  associated  with  the  primary  stimuli  of  a  par- 
ticular autonomic  function.  Studies  of  psychoneuroses  and  psy- 
choses, as  well  as  individual  traits  and  spontaneous  affective  adjust- 
ments in  normal  people,  show  that  the  affective  functions  tend  to 
become  conditioned  to  react  to,  or  to  require,  previously  indifferent 
stimuli  that  have  become  coincidentally  associated  with  the  primary 
stimuli  of  the  affective  craving.  This  capacity,  of  various  affective 
cravings  to  become  conditioned  to  react  to,  and  require,  almost 
specific  stimuli,  knits  the  personality  into  a  fimctional  unity,  because 
of  the  tendency  of  stimuli  to  become  mixed  in  the  heterogeneous 
environment.  This  determines  the  individual,  acquired  traits  of  per- 
sonality, normal  and  abnormal. 

When  an  affective  craving  or  particular  autonomic  disposition 

139 


140  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONTS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

is  prevented  from  attaining  adequate  neutralization,  a  heightened 
postural  tension  in  that  particular  autonomic  segment,  as  in  the 
anxious  tensions  that  follow  the  loss  of  a  love-object,  seems  to  per- 
sist. It  then  exerts  a  constant  pressure  to  be  relieved.  These  per- 
sistent hypertensions  and  hypotensions  of  various  autonomic  seg- 
ments, and  not  the  structural  conformations  in  themselves,  consti- 
tute the  character  of  the  individual.  A  serious  physical  deformity 
in  a  girl  is  not  depressing  unless  it  is  an  obstacle  to  affective  yearn- 
ings that  have  their  sources  in  other  segments  of  the  body. 

As  an  affect-producing  mechanism,  the  hypertense  autonomic 
division  may  be  said  to  be  repressed  when  it  is  not  permitted  to 
make  the  organism  conscious  or  aware  of  its  needs.  The  hyper- 
tense division  is  suppressed  when  it  is  permitted  to  cause  awareness 
of  it  needs  but  is  not  permitted  to  dominate  the  projicient  motor 
system  and  attain  a  state  of  neutralization. 

This  permits  the  formulation  of  the  personality  and  its  behavior 
as  follows: 

Primary  Wishes  +  Subsidiary  Wishes   (manifest) 


Primary  Wishes  -|-  Subsidiary  Wishes  (repressed) 

X  Environmental  Resistance  =  Behavior. 

When  an  excessive  summation  of  repressed  cravings  or  auto- 
nomic tensions  occurs,  its  force  cannot  be  controlled  by  the  re- 
mainder of  the  organism  or  prevented  from  dominating  the  pro- 
jicient motor  system,  and  functional  confusion  results.  This  is 
shown  by  incoordinations,  accidents,  errors,  obsessive  thoughts  and 
cravings,  "queer"  acts,  dreams,  hallucinations,  delusions  or  disso- 
ciated states  of  the  personality  that  always  accompany  loss  of  con- 
trol of  the  affective  cravings. 

The  affective  craving  or  autonomic  component  determines  the 
postural  tonus  of  the  skeletal  muscles,  the  stream  of  kinesthetic 
imagery,  and,  largely,  the  thought  content  of  consciousness.  When 
an  affective  need,  like  hunger,  produces  thoughts  of  how  to  get  food, 
the  affect  is  already  using  the  projicient  apparatus  to  acquire  the 
food.  When  an  affective  conflict  occurs,  a  change  in  the  postural 
tonus  of  the  striped  muscles  immediately  occurs,  as  one  may  observe 
in  disastrous  incoordination,  accidents.  Such  observations,  besides 
laboratory  experiments,  reveal  the  intimate  nature  of  the  autonomic 
or  affective  relationship  to  postural  tonus,  and  the  kinesthetic  stream. 

Since  the  affective  functions  determine  the  nature  of  the  con- 
tent of  consciousness  through  causing  awareness  of  satisfactory 
sensory  images,  or  exogenous  stimuli,  which  they  tend  to  use,  or  an 


RESTATEMENT  AND  SOME  GENERAL  CONSmERATIONS  I4I 

awareness  of  unsatisfactory  stimuli,  which  they  are  trying  to  change 
into  satisfactory  forms,  the  misinterpretation  (delusion  or  halluci- 
nation), as  well  as  the  misrepresentation  (lie)  is  due  to  an  affective 
craving  causing  an  awareness  of  endogenous  stimuli.  That  is,  old 
sensory  images,  which  adulterate  the  individual's  awareness  of  the 
present  sensations  of  exogenous  origin,  constitute  the  wish  fulfill- 
ment in  the  delusion,  hallucination,  lie,  fancy  or  truth. 

The  affective  stream  should  be  seen  as  a  continuous  but  com- 
plex stream  of  afferent  impulses  arising,  peripherally,  from  the  re- 
ceptors in  the  autonomic  apparatus.  The  thought  content  of  con- 
sciousness is  largely  determined  by  the  nature  of  the  affective 
stream  as  it  effects  the  postural  tonus  of  the  striped  muscles.  Be- 
cause of  the  relations  of  postural  muscle  tonus  and  kinesthetic 
imagery,  the  projicient  apparatus  may  be  regarded,  in  a  sense,  as 
the  thinking  apparatus  of  the  body,  trying  to  acquire  means  to  please 
the  affect. 

Therefore,  in  the  psychoanalytic  study  of  any  personality,  or  of 
an  act  or  fantasy,  such  as  an  hallucination,  a  work  of  art,  a  poem, 
play,  novel,  or  Darwin's  contributions  to  knowledge  of  evolution,  the 
formula  to  be  followed  is : 

Affective  Craving  X  Environmental  Resistance  =  Behavior. 

Given  the  Behavior  and  the  Resistance,  the  nature  of  the 
Wishes  may  be  quite  accurately  inferred ;  or 

Given  the  Wishes  and  the  Resistance,  the  Behavior  may  be  quite 
accurately  predicted;  or 

Given  the  Wishes  and  the  Behavior,  the  Resistance  may  be  quite 
accurately  deduced. 

The  next  stage  in  the  analytical  study  is  the  disclosure  of  the 
genesis  of  the  Wish  and  its  conditioning  for  definite  objects  and 
special  receptors. 

Since  consciousness  of  anjrthing  or  of  the  self  exists  only  in  the 
form  of  awareness  of  the  activity  of  some  receptor-group,  con- 
sciousness may  be  defined  a^  the  reaction  of  the  body  cts  a  whole 
to  the  special  or  setisational  activity  of  any  one  or  several  of  its 
parts.  A  cerebral  center  or  area  of  consciousness  is  discredited  and 
the  central  nervous  system  is  seen  to  have  no  other  function  than 
that  of  integrating  and  reenforcing  afferent  and  efferent  nerve  im- 
pulses. 

It  is  natural  to  assume  that  the  seat  of  consciousness  or  of  the 
"mind"  occupies  a  region  just  behind  and  above  the  eyes,  because 
the  eyes  and  their  extrinsic  muscles  are  the  supreme  afferent  channel 
of  the  entire  organism.     No  interests  may  be  aroused  in  anything 


142  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

without  the  eyes  being  immediately  so  focused  as  to  acquire  addi- 
tional information  about  its,  nature.  When  the  eyes  are  useless,  as 
in  total  darkness  and  blindness,  the  auditory  apparatus  tends  to  be- 
come the  chief  afferent  channel,  which,  no  doubt,  supports  the 
common  assumption  of  humanity  that  the  mind  occupies  an  area  in 
the  brain.  The  search  for  this  mysterious  area  has  long  been  the 
will-o'-the-wisp  of  neurology.  No  expression  of  thought  is  com- 
plete without  the  inclusion,  frankly  or  implied,  of  a  verb.  The  verb 
denotes  some  form  of  motion,  and  rarely  does  the  personality  refer 
to  or  reproduce  an  image  of  a  form  of  motion  without  the  extrinsic 
muscles  of  the  eyes  contributing  kinesthetic  sensations  of  movement 
as  the  eye  follows  the  visual  image  of  the  moving  object. 

If  the  scientific  investigations  of  the  future  should  verify  the 
conception  of  the  peripheral  origin  of  the  emotions  and  of  thought, 
and  decentralize  our  old  notions  of  the  mind,  it  would  not  contribute 
one  iota  to  the  existence  or  non-existence  of  the  soul.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  old  notion  that  the  mind  has  its  seat  in  the  brain  has  given 
no  more  support  to  the  soul-hope  than  a  conviction  that  it  exists  in 
the  stomach.  A  certain  class  of  benighted  individuals  might  be  driven 
into  distraction  if  they  were  deprived  of  the  faith  that  the  "  mind  " 
is  in  that  part  of  the  brain,  just  behind  and  above  the  eyes.  Their 
sublimations  of  the  "  spirits  of  the  flesh  "  upward  require  that  they 
should  ascend  as  high  as  possible  to  be  safe  from  the  fleshy  demon 
that  would  draw  their  interests  downward  to  the  realms  of  perdi- 
tion about  the  pelvis. 

The  future  of  humanity  forces  one  to  speculate  as  to  man's 
place  in  nature,  the  nature  of  his  biological  career,  and  the  best 
means  of  realizing  it. 

As  to  his  place  in  nature,  man  is  a  vast  community  of  cells,  work- 
ing in  systems  which  are  integrated  into  a  unity  to  further  the  bio- 
logical interests  of  the  cellular  community  as  a  whole.  The  auto- 
nomic functions  of  the  organism  tend  to  utilize  and  organize  the 
projicient  functions  so  as  to  acquire  a  maximum  of  gratification 
from  the  environment  with  a  minimum  expenditure  of  energy.  De- 
ficiencies, sin  and  failures  in  the  struggle  for  happiness  are  largely 
due  to  the  persistence  of  past  or  primordial  traits  that  are  unequal  to 
the  refinements  of  functions  required  by  the  exigencies  of  the  present. 

No  other  source  for  the  impulse  to  attain  goodness,  honesty, 
virility,  efficiency  and  happiness,  in  a  criminal  or  a  saint,  need  be 
assumed,  than  the  mechanism  that  opposed  wishes,  striving  for  their 
individual  gratification,  always  determine  the  resultant  course  of 
behavior.     If  one  wish  is  permitted  unrestrained  freedom  to  gratify 


RESTATEMENT  AND  SOME  GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  I43 

itself,  say,  to  be  extravagant,  another  wish  may  be  abused  in  its 
striving,  say,  to  be  judicious,  and  the  ungratified  affect  causes  a 
feeling  of  discomfort,  and,  hence,  a  sense  of  inferiority. 

The  reverse  principle  holds  true,  of  course,  when  one  tends  to  be 
miserly  with  liberal  companions.  Here,  the  wish  to  be  agreeably 
liberal  is  abused  by  the  wish  that  prompts  miserliness,  and  a  sense  of 
unpleasantness  is  produced  which  the  individual  cannot  well  endure. 

Upon  the  above  principle,  man's  code  of  ethics  and  social  rela- 
tionship seems  to  be  turning.  He  is  demanding  equal  rights  and 
privileges,  in  order  to  refine  himself  to  the  maximum  level  that  his 
inherent  capacities  will  support.  People  settle  into  social  strata 
according  to  the  sensations  they  give  one  another.  The  coarse, 
crude,  vulgar,  stupid,  are  usually  opposed  to  the  refined,  intelligent, 
well-bred ;  or  the  miserly  usually  cannot  comfortably  associate  with 
the  extravagant,  the  immoral  with  the  prudish,  the  tough-minded 
with  the  tender-minded,  etc. 

The  primitive  autonomic  system  protected  itself  from  the  fates 
and  stresses  of  the  environment  by  gradually  creating  and  sur- 
rounding itself  with  a  projicient  apparatus  whereby  it  could  avoid 
the  harmful  and  seek  out  the  beneficial  environmental  fields.  This 
method  of  obtaining  autonomic  gratification  continued  through  the 
ages  until  an  ape  found  that  its  paw  or  hand  was  dexterous  enough 
to  use  a  stick  as  a  means  to  an  end,  perhaps  for  scraping  playthings 
or  foods  out  of  holes  and  crevices.  The  dawn  of  civilization  came 
as  the  ape  learned  to  project  himself  through  exogenous  means, 
applying  himself  indirectly,  in  order  to  build  a  pleasing  environment 
within  the  greater  environment.  Civilized  man  is  absorbed  in  further 
extending  and  controlling  his  readjusted  environmental  spheres. 
As  he  succeeds  in  accurately  projecting  himself  through  his  instru- 
ments into  the  future,  his  capacity  for  controlling  the  environment 
increases.  As  the  ape  learned  to  use  exogenous  means  to  attain 
an  end,  the  tendency  to  adjust  himself  to  suit  the  nature  of  the 
means  probably  greatly  increased  his  capacity  to  modify  himself 
through  conscious  effort.  This,  perhaps,  contributed  to  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  capacity  to  become  conscious  of  the  resources  within  him- 
self, to  exert  self-control,  and  refine  his  wishes. 

As  the  primitive  man's  capacity  to  project  himself  into  the  future 
increased,  that  is,  to  imagine  (imitate  in  postures)  what  his  position 
might  be  like  in  the  near  future,  the  conflicts  between  the  needs  of 
the  social  group  and  the  individual  required  the  deferment  and  sup- 
pression of  many  of  the  individual's  wishes  and  the  formulations  of 
fixed  laws.     Then  man  developed  the  capacity  to  repress  asocial 


144  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

wishes  and  obtained  his  gratification  through  the  use  of  images, 
symbols  and  rituals,  the  pictorial  and  symbolic  narration  of  fancies 
(the  age  of  fables)  and  historical  accounts  that  pleased  his  wishes. 
Hence,  the  mania  for  word-sounds  and  word-signs  which  created 
languages,  dictionaries,  novel-writing,  etc. 

The  lower  animals  use  the  method  of  applying  various  receptors 
to  an  object  in  order  to  familarize  themselves  with  the  various 
qualities  of  the  object.  The  monkey  learned  to  further  analyze  ob- 
jects by  tearing  them  to  bits  with  his  hands.  Then  the  ape-man 
learned  that  further  qualities  could  be  detected  by  making  various 
objects  work  upon  each  other,  and,  when  Man  learned  to  standardize 
a  set  of  objects  by  which  all  others  might  be  compared,  so-called 
scientific  investigations  began.  The  quarrel  between  science  and 
religion  has  always  been  a  quarrel  between  gratifying  wishes  with 
endogenous  fancies  or  exogenous  realities. 

Philosophical  and  metaphysical  speculation  on  the  ultimate  na- 
ture of  creation,  when  based  upon  the  researches  and  facts  of 
science,  has  changed  its  words  for  ultimate  particles  of  matter  from 
molecules,  to  atoms,  to  electrons.  The  latter  term,  however,  can 
also  only  refer  to  fractions  of  matter.  Fractions  of  matter  are  no 
more  ultimate  in  the  sense  of  being  theoretically  indivisible  than 
fractions  of  bricks.  The  mind  is  unable  to  clearly  define  or  con- 
ceive of  an  object  without  automatically  imagining  it  to  hav&  a  com- 
position and  a  capacity  for  further  division. 

An  attempt  to  assume  that  an  electron  is  an  indivisible,  final  and 
ultimate  form  of  energy  or  matter  does  not  prevent  speculations  as 
to  its  constitution. 

Perhaps  the  most  persistent  sources  of  the  belief  in  a  beginning 
and  end  of  this  universe  are  ungratified  wishes  that  need  comfort- 
ing fancies.  The  beginning  and  end  of  composite  objects,  as  tem- 
porary manifestations  of  the  creative  powers  of  the  universe,  greatly 
encourage  this  dream,  hence  the  world  is  assumed  to  have  had  a 
beginning  and  the  primordial  creative  force  must  be  regarded  as 
eternal.  Only  inter-relations  of  the  primordial  force  have  a  begin- 
ning and  an  end,  but  pure  activity,  as  such,  if  it  exists,  can  have  had 
no  beginning  and  will  have  no  end,  because  that  would  mean  a  stage 
of  no  activity,  which  contradicts  pure  activity. 

The  feeling  of  unlimitedness  to  spatial  extension  has  for  one  of 
its  sources,  the  consciousness  of  contiguity  of  numerous  simulta- 
neously active  receptors,  as  in  the  relationship  of  various  receptor- 
groups  when  they  tend  to  be  brought  together  or  separated;  for 
example,  the  eyes,  or  the  hands.    Such  experiences  may  be  end- 


RESTATEMENT  AND  SOME  GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  1 45 

lessly  magnified  in  number  and  extent  of  convergence  or  divergence. 
The  proportions  of  a  hill  are  measured  by  comparing  it  to  other 
objects,  but  its  size  to  the  individual  varies  inversely  as  his  climbing 
power. 

The  consciousness  of  unlimitedness  of  duration  of  activity,  or  of 
time,  has  for  one  of  its  roots  the  continuity  of  the  complex  afferent 
stream,  flowing  from  the  exteroceptors,  proprioceptors  and  entero- 
cepters,  as  it  modifies  the  content  of  consciousness.  The  muscle- 
sense  of  movement  may  be  magnified  into  an  unlimited  duration  by 
projecting  ourselves,  in  visual-motor  imagery,  through  space  over 
and  over  again. 

The  tendency  to  believe  that  unlimited  space  and  time  existed 
before  the  beginning  of  the  personality  is  not  due  to  memories  of 
when  the  personality  began,  but  to  our  faith  in  the  experiences  of 
those  we  love,  who  are  older  than  ourselves  and  who  are  able  to 
trace  the  sequence  of  cause  and  effect  beyond  our  earlist  memories. 
The  acceptance  of  this  evidence  becomes  the  basis  for  accepting  the 
evidence  of  prehistorical  facts.  One  sees  this  common  quality  dis- 
turbed in  psychotics  who  believe  (imagine)  that  those  they  love  are 
destroyed  and  "the  end  of  time  has  come,"  seeming  to  mean  the 
past  and  the  future. 

The  tendency  to  believe  that  the  personality  will  have  unlimited 
duration  is  a  wish-fulfilling  necessity.  Our  repressed  wishes  force 
the  belief  in  this  possibility  upon  consciousness.  Since  we  can  have 
no  awareness  of  a  state  of  total  unawareness  or  unconsciousness, 
we  are  unable  to  become  conscious  of  a  contradictory  state  of  non- 
existence. That  other  personalities,  except  those  we  love,  shall  have 
a  beginning  or  end,  is  acceptable  on  the  same  basis  that  cooked  food 
has  a  beginning  and  an  end,  but  this  is  not  applicable  to  ourselves 
except  on  a  basis  of  common  sense. 

With  peculiar  faith  we  tend  to  construct  parallelistic  or  monistic 
philosophies  to  please  our  ungratified  affections.  We  are  unable  to 
imagine  anything  but  unlimitedness  of  duration  and  extent  of  the 
primordial  creative  force.  The  qualities  of  duration  and  extent  are 
shown  in  some  form.  While  we  may  firmly  believe  in  the  limited 
existence  of  the  universe  as  we  sense  it  to  be,  we  cannot  avoid 
feeling  that  an  unlimited  primordial  source  with  many  attributes  of 
our  personalities  preceded  it.    We  create  God  in  our  own  image. 

The  mind  seems  unable  to  clearly  conceive  of  a  process  without 
some  thing  to  proceed.  Hence,  energy  is  assumed  to  be  composed 
of  electrons.  This  seems  to  be  due  to  the  nature  of  the  mechanism 
of  consciousness,  for  whenever  we  have  a  sense  of  movement  or 


146  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

force  we  have  a  consistent  sense  of  an  objective  cause.  We  may 
vaguely  imagine  the  beginning  of  matter,  or  electrons,  as  the  re- 
sult of  crystallization  of  energy,  but,  so  soon  as  the  imagination 
tries  to  convert  the  vague  notion  of  formless  energy  into  a  clear 
conception,  it  automatically,  but  persistently,  becomes  crystallized 
into  particles  of  some  thing. 

The  great  tragedy  of  the  human  mind  is  its  inability  to  thor- 
oughly convince  itself  that  it  need  never  and  can  never  know  the 
ultimate  nature  of  the  universe;  but  that  its  sole  problem  is  the 
creation  of  a  social  state  whereby  the  greatest  efficiency,  goodness 
and  happiness  can  be  had  by  all  of  the  number. 

The  chronic  persistence  of  the  world-old  riddle  of  the  universe 
and  man's  innumerable,  unsatisfactory,  conflicting  speculations  as  to 
its  nature,  indicate  the  hopelessness  of  speculations  based  upon  any 
other  than  sensory  reactions.  The  creation,  in  fancy,  of  a  heaven, 
in  which  our  priceless  longings  will  be  fulfilled,  certainly  has  a  val- 
uable psycho-therapeutic  effect  so  long  as  its  influence  does  not 
become  debilitating.  Hope  and  faith  are  often  all  that  keep  the 
vital  organs  alive,  but  they  also,  more  often,  keep  them  lazy. 

Common  sense  is  at  last  influencing  men  to  abandon  the  pursuit 
of  solutions  for  useless  riddles  and  is  encouraging  pragmatic  in- 
terests in  living.  Gradually,  man  is  learning  to  dignify  labor  and 
efficiency,  honesty,  goodness  and  happiness  as  sacred  to  the  cause  of 
the  human  race,  and  slowly,  but  surely,  mysterious  symbols  and 
rituals  are  waning  as  an  energizing  necessity. 

As  we  succeed  in  mitigating  the  persecutions  of  nature  and  of 
one  another  we  tend,  less  and  less,  to  resort  to  energizing  symbols 
in  order  to  give  ourselves  grace  and  comfort.  Gradually,  our  affec- 
tive needs  are  becoming  conditioned  to  enjoy  the  realities  and  exo- 
genous needs  of  life  more  than  the  fancies. 

Enough  is  known  of  the  nature  and  vital  needs  of  living  things 
for  the  thinker  to  recognize  that  all  forms  of  the  biocosmos  are  so 
intimately  related  to  one  another  and  so  interdependent  upon  each 
other  for  existence  that  practically  no  form  of  life  can  exist  inde- 
pendently of  all  the  others.  Although  animals  seem  independent  and 
self-sustaining  as  they  move  in  space  unattached,  they  are,  relatively, 
little  more  independent  in  their  needs  than  the  wandering  phagocyte 
in  the  blood  stream.  We  must  learn  to  see  the  body  as  a  com- 
munity of  cells  and  all  organisms  as  one  grand  community.  Upon 
the  apex  of  this  seething,  throbbing  biodynamic  pyramid,  the  uni- 
verse has  succeeded,  after  ages  of  striving,  to  erect  its  semi-sublime, 
egotistical,  masterpiece — Man. 


RESTATEMENT  AND  SOME  GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  147 

If  one,  in  a  moment  of  reflection,  will  let  his  imagination  pass 
back  down  the  inclined  plane  of  organic  evolution  to  the  existence 
of  the  primordial  cell,  far  beneath  and  long  ago,  one  may  see  it, 
as  it  lay  buried  in  the  slime  and  ooze,  receive  its  first  inspiration 
from  the  warm  rays  of  the  morning  sun.  One  may  see  this  cell 
gradually  work  its  way  out  of  the  slime  into  the  streams  and  seas, 
onto  the  land  and  into  the  air,  generally  toward  the  light.  In  its 
higher  communal  forms,  one  may  see  in  its  strivings  the  funda- 
mental law  of  the  extension  of  its  power  and  the  refinement  of 
itself,  following  the  dual  mechanical  principle  of  attaining  a  maxi- 
mum of  autonomic  gratification  with  a  minimum  expenditure  of  its 
energic  resources  as  a  means  of  attaining  greatest  affective  develop- 
ment, freedom  and  happiness.  This  principle  is  so  universal  and 
fundamental  in  the  evolution  of  living  things  that  one  wonders  if  it 
is  not  a  fundamental  attribute  of  the  constitution  of  pure  activity, 
and  whether  or  not  this  incessant,  irrepressible  urge  in  the  nature  of 
man,  to  understand  and  reconstruct  his  environment,  is  not  dignified 
by  a  sublime  necessity.  One's  impressions  of  the  nature  of  cosmic 
evolution  is  greatly  influenced  by  his  feeling  whether  or  not  he  is 
a  means  to  an  end  or  a  means  to  attaining  a  more  refined  means. 
The  pleasures  from  the  refining  process  are  the  reward. 

Is  not  man,  as  a  functional  entity,  like  a  corpuscle  in  the  living' 
universe,  created  for  and  depended  upon  to  assist  in  furthering  the 
refinement  of  the  sublime  cosmic  tendency?  If  so,  then  labor  and 
sincere  endeavor  becomes  augustly  dignified.  Equality  of  oppor- 
tunity, fulfillment  of  duty  and  affective  freedom  become  divine  ob- 
ligations of  men  to  men. 

There  is,  besides  a  frank  expression  of  democracy  and  equality, 
a  divine  economizing  of  human  energies  in  "  the  golden  rule,"  that 
men  shall  do  unto  others  as  they  wish  to  be  done  by.  Perhaps  then 
man's  place  in  the  great  cosmic  scheme  is  more  than  that  of  being 
merely  an  optimistic  monkey  that  must  live  and  die.  Perhaps  he  is  a 
necessary  contributor  to  the  vital,  ftmdamental  endeavors  and  evo- 
lution of  the  living  universe. 

Newton's  first  law  of  motion,  that  a  body  at  rest  continues  at  rest 
until  acted  upon  by  some  external  force,  and  its  corollary,  a  body  in 
motion  continues  in  uniform  motion  in  a  straight  lines  except  in  so 
far  as  it  is  acted  upon  by  some  external  force,  seem  to  have  a  biolog- 
ical application  in  the  mechanism  of  the  autonomic-affective  crav- 
ing acquiring  gratification.  In  their  relationship,  when  environing 
forces  attain  a  state  of  equilibrium  with  a  constellation  of  energies 
having  centrifugal  tendencies  (the  cell)  a  certain  mean  of  activity 
will  be  maintained  so  long  as  either  factor  does  not  change  suffi- 


148  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

ciently  to  disrupt  the  energic  balance  which  constitutes  the  metabo- 
lizing cell.  When  a  seed,  cell,  or  egg  is  placed  in  its  appropriate  en- 
vironment and  the  temperature,  that  is,  the  activity  of  the  environ- 
ment, is  raised  to  a  proper  degree,  multiplication  of  the  cell  begins. 
It  may  also  be  checked  by  excessive  activity  (heat)  or  a  decrease  of 
activity  (cold)  of  the  medium.  If  the  energic  constitution  (molecu- 
lar) of  the  medium  is  altered,  the  centrifugal-centripetal  balance 
between  the  environment  and  cell  becomes  altered,  and  the  course 
of  the  balance  (growth  of  the  cell)  will  continue  to  be  (propor- 
tionately?) altered,  it  seems  from  the  biological  experiments  of  Loeb 
and  others. 

The  falling  body  gravitates  straight  toward  the  center  of  the 
earth,  unless  acted  upon  by  some  other  force,  and  one  may  see  in 
its  flight  toward  its  final  equilibrium  a  perfect  economy  of  motion 
in  that  there  is  no  waste  of  motion  in  its  course.  In  chemical  reac- 
tions, as  when  sodium  hydrate  is  dissolved  in  hydrochloric  acid, 
and  salt-water  results,  a  similar  economy  of  motion  is  to  be  recog- 
nized in  the  dissociation,  flight  and  reorganization  of  the  various 
atomic  constituents.  This  same  principle  or  economizing  of  mo- 
tion is  obviously  at  work  in  the  maintenance  of  autonomic  or  affec- 
tive equilibrium  by  acquiring  a  maximum  of  adequate  stimuli  with 
a  minimum  expenditure  of  movement.  This  mechanism  facilitates 
quickness  and  directness  of  result  through  the  perfected  coordina- 
tion of  movement.  It  is  the  most  likely  mechanism  to  support 
autonomic  equilibrium,  despite  its  very  rapid,  constant,  complex 
changes  due  to  metabolism  and  environmental  changes. 

In  the  mechanism  of  wishes  or  cravings  reenforcing  one  an- 
other, and  accelerating  and  coordinating  movement  for  the  acquisi- 
rtion  of  a  satisfactory  object,  just  as  the  summation  of  afferent  im- 
rpulses  finally  dominates  a  final  common  motor  path,  may  be  recog- 
nized a  biological  manifestation  of  Newton's  second  law  of  motion — 
that  change  of  motion  is  proportional  to  the  force  applied  and  takes 
place  in  the  direction  of  the  force.  The  corollary  of  this  law,  that 
motion  of  an  object  is  inhibited  according  to  the  nature  of  the 
resistances,  applies  to  the  mechanism  of  the  suppressed  wish  or 
autonomic  tension.  Behavior  is  the  resultant  of  parallelograms  of 
forces-wishes.  The  third  law  of  motion,  that  action  and  reaction 
are  equal  and  opposite,  is"  probably  the  foundation  of  the  dual  con- 
struction of  the  projicient  apparatus,  because,  when  one  side  of  the 
body  exerts  pressure  on  the  earth,  say  to  go  forward,  or  to  the 
i-ight,  the  opposite  side,  by  exerting  a  pressure  in  the  opposite  direc- 
tion, prevents  the  body  from  displacir^  itself  from  a  desirable  into 
an  undesirable  position. 


RESTATEMENT  AND  SOME  GENERAL  CONSmERATIONS  I49 

The  opposition  of  wishes  or  autonomic  cravings,  as  forces  de- 
termining the  result  of  behavior  (movement),  prevents  the  per- 
sonality from  deviating  too  eccentrically  from  the  normal,  because 
certain  wishes,  which  exert  a  balancing  influence,  being  ungratified, 
cause  tension  and  discomfort  if  misused.  Nature,  in  perfecting  the 
mechanism  by  which  the  autonomic  functions  should  oppose  one  an- 
other, so  as  to  regulate  one  another,  followed  the  third  law  of 
motion,  that,  to  every  action  there  is  an  equal  and  opposite  reaction. 
This,  perhaps,  may  be  illustrated  by  the  functions  of  the  stomach. 
Hunger  cravings  compel  the  eating  of  food  until  the  accumulating 
food,  as  a  stimulus,  sets  up  reactions  (equal  and  opposite)  that 
neutralize  the  craving,  and  then  follows  the  opposite  tendency  of 
avoiding  food;  or,  if  an  excess  is  eaten,  a  tendency  to  regurgitate 
is  aroused.  The  third  law  of  motion  holds  true  for  both  assimila- 
tive and  emissive  functions. 

Love,  prompting  self-sacrifice,  becomes  counteracted  by  restrain- 
ing fears  of  getting  into  a  self -jeopardizing  position,  hence  the  op- 
posing wishes  counteract  one  another.  An  individual  suffering  from 
a  perfect  balance  of  wishes  to  do  "this"  and  "that"  at  the  same 
time  suffers  from  inability  to  accomplish  anything. 

The  tendency  of  energy,  to  establish  a  state  of  universal  equi- 
librium, has  led  philosophy,  in  some  quarters,  to  the  pessimistic 
conclusion  that,  finally,  a  universal  adjustment,  cold  and  still,  would 
be  reached.  Therefore,  let  us  lie,  eat,  drink  and  be  merry,  for  to- 
morrow we  die. 

Two  phenomena  support  the  belief  that  a  final,  absolute  equi- 
librium is  unlikely.  The  primordial  force  of  the  universe  has 
already  had  infinite  endurance,  having  had  no  beginning,  and  hav- 
ing had  no  beginning  we  must  accept  that  it  is  pure  activity,  and, 
as  such,  has  an  inherent  nature.  This  is  eternal  self-refinement. 
A  final  state  of  absolute  equilibrium  is  unattainable,  and  the  con- 
ception of  it  is  not  acceptable  because  of  the  fact  of  past  infinite 
duration  of  activity. 

As  the  philosopher  was  reduced  to  the  ridiculous  impasse  of 
accepting  that  intelligence,  whatever  it  is,  exists  because  "I  think, 
therefore,  I  am,"  so  the  scientist,  who  is  unable  to  believe  that  the 
calcium  in  his  bones  is  alive,  will  be  forced  to  the  realization  that, 
even  though  the  chemical  processes  of  life  have  no  vitality  different 
principle  than  that  to  be  found  in  the  physical  and  chemical  reac- 
tions of  the  elements,  he  is  alive  and  must  live  according  to  the  auto- 
nomic laws. 

No  matter  how  simple  science  may,  in  the  future,  demonstrate 


150  AUTONOMIC  FUNCTIONS  AND  THE  PERSONALITY 

the  process  of  life  to  be,  Nature's  capacity  to  create  and  improve 
Life's  mechanical  prowess  cannot  be  denied.  The  energic  processes 
of  the  universe  must  surely  follow  some  principle  that  is  inherent 
and  fundamental  to  its  nature  and  some  of  its  laws  should  be  mani- 
fested in  its  workings.  Hence,  the  ethical  interest  of  man  should 
reveal  some  of  its  principles.  One  may  infer  that  error  and  evil 
are  due  to  vestiges  of  past  mechanisms  that  were  at  one  time  neces- 
sary steps  in  evolution,  as,  for  example,  the  primitive  ape-man's 
sexual  affections  (5)  for  animals  which  led  to  the  capacity  of  culti- 
vating herds,  packs  and  flocks,  and  that  these  traits  must  become  re- 
fined, and  the  refinements  require  persistent  support  in  order  that 
they  shall  have  the  endurance  and  efficiency  that  the  present  stage  of 
civilization  requires.  Men  unconsciously  measure  one  another  ac- 
cording to  their  sincerity,  and  sincerity  of  the  wish  is  the  individual's 
only  reliable  means  of  refinement  of  activity.  Moral  laws  are  only 
moral  in  so  far  as  they  promote  the  progress  of  humanity.  No 
matter  how  holy  and  sanctified  the  laws  may  seem  to  sound,  if  sup- 
pressive wasters  of  energy  they  are  immoral. 

The  curiosity  of  man  must  include  some  speculation  on  the 
nature  of  the  goal  of  the  great  cosmic  scheme  in  so  far  as  it  per- 
tains to  the  assurance  of  the  fulfillment  of  his  wishes.  Kings  and 
high-priests  have  taught,  for  obvious  reasons  of  self-identification 
that  justified  their  pleasures,  that  it  was  to  the  end  of  glory  and 
homage. 

Herbert  Spencer  saw  in  the  tendency  of  things  an  automatic 
evolution  from  a  stage  of  dull  gray  homogeneity  to  a  stage  of  ultra- 
varied  and  brilliant  heterogeneity  and  then  on  into  dull  gray  homo- 
geneity, to  be  repeated  forever  without  end.  This  depressing  in- 
terpretation neglects  the  inspiring  nature  of  the  ceaseless,  self -refin- 
ing tendency  of  living  things,  and  does  not  consider  the  career  of 
the  biocosmos  as  a  whole.  One  feels  that  surely  universal  activity 
must  have  a  perfect  process  of  working  since  it  has  had  unlimited 
endurance.  That  is,  it  never  had  a  beginning.  The  idea  of  be- 
ginning is  indigenous  to  man's  awareness  of  his  sensations.  The 
inference  that  man  has  a  truly  dignified  and  sacred  contribution  to 
make  is  supported  by  the  economizing  of  movement  and  his  unavoid- 
able regret  of  neglect  and  waste.  (With  apologies,  this  must  be 
admitted  as  distressing  to  a  lazy  man's  ideal  of  the  perfect  state.) 

In  this  dark  hour  of  human  events,  when  the  desperate  carnage 
of  men  threatens  the  foundation  of  civilization,  the  struggle,  "to 
make  the  world  safe  for  democracy  "  from  the  plots  and  schemes  of 
self-centered  men,  who  would  style  themselves  as  "gods,"  alone  is 
sufficient  to  redeem  the  slaughter  and  the  waste.     The  economizing 


RESTATEMENT  AND  SOME  GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  I5I 

of  human  interests  rings  true  as  steel  in  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence and  Lincoln's  "  Government  of  the  people,  by  the  people 
and  for  the  people."  How  it  contrasts  with  the  sodden,  self- 
aggrandizing  machinations  of  a  bigoted  plutocracy! 

A  world-state  of  individual  equality  and  opportunity,  so  that 
each  personality  may  enjoy  affective  freedom  and  develop  to  the 
fullest  his  powers  for  efficiency,  goodness  and  happiness,  alone,  must 
finally  endure.  A  condition  of  human  affairs  is  coming  when  the 
affective  strivings  of  the  creator  and  the  reconstructor  shall  alone 
merit  the  dignity  and  respect  of  men.  Labor  will  be  recognized  as 
the  only  sincere  and  sacred  tribute  of  men  to  God.  Art  and  song 
and  play  then  will  be  felt  as  having  a  utilitarian  value  for  the  whole- 
some relaxation  and  evolution  of  the  personality,  and  parasitism, 
wastefulness  and  profligacy  will  be  recognized  as  disgusting  crimes 
against  the  welfare  of  humanity. 

The  whole  principle  of  Christianity  and  the  mechanism  of  con- 
version may  be  summed  up  in  the  Renunciation  of  Envy. 

The  facts  that  are  being  gathered  through  the  analytical  study 
of  the  affective  struggles  of  the  insane,  the  sick  and  deformed,  the 
oppressed  and  unhappy,  make  it  evident  that  from  out  of  the  dismal 
night  humanity  is  unvirtuously  approaching  the  dawn  of  a  new 
social  era. 


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Ab.  Psych.,  Vol.  VIII. 

43.  Woodworth,   R.   S.    A   Revision  of   Imageless   Thought.     The   Psycho- 

logical Review,  Vol.  XXII,  No.  i. 

44.  Bleuler,  E.    The  Theory  of  Schizophrenic  Negativism. 

45.  Gaskell,  W.  H.    The  Origin  of  Vertebrates. 

46.  Franz,  S.  I.,  and  Stout,  J.  D.    Variations  in  Distribution  of  the  Motor 

Centers.    The  Psychological  Monographs,  Vol.  XIX,  No.  i. 

47.  Higier,  H.    Vegetative  Nervous  System.     The  Journal  of  Nervous  and 

Mental  Disease,  Vol.  XLIII. 

48.  White,  W.   A.    The   Mechanism  of   Transference.     The   Psychoanalytic 

Review,  Vol.  IV,  No.  4. 

49.  Basset,  G.  C.    Habit  Formation  in  a  Strain  of  White  Rats  with  Less  than 

Normal  Brain  Weight.    Behavior  Monograph  Series  No.  9. 

50.  Grey,  E.  G.    Observations  on  the  Postural  Activity  of  the  Stomach.    The 

Am.  Journal  of  Physiology,  Vol.  XLV,  No.  3. 

51.  Kempf,  E.  J.    Chales  Darwin — The  Affective  Sources  of  his  Inspiration 

and  Anxiety  Neurosis.    The  Psychoanalj^ic  Review,  Vol.  V,  No.  2. 

52.  Kempf,  E.  J.    The  Integrative  Functions  of  the  Nervous  System  Applied 

to  Some  Reactions  in  Human  Behavior,  and  their  Attending  Psychic 
Functions.    The  Psychoanalytic  Review,  Vol.  II,  No.  2. 


INDEX 


Aflfections,  27 

peripheral  origin  of,  139 
Affective, 

assimilation,  118 

conflict,  100 

coordination,  123 

craving,  34,  35 

dissociation,  iii 

fixation,  90 

neutralization,  128,  139 

progression,  116 

readjustment,  90,  118 

reenforcement,  123 

regression,  116 

repression,  90 

sensorimotor  system,  33 

sublimation,  118 

suppression,  140 
Affective  stream, 

complexity  and  continuity,  68, 141 

and  behavior,  71 
Affectivity,  33 

Ambivalent        ( avertive-acquisitive) , 
nature  of 

behavior,  71 

cravings,  71 

discrimination,  12 

growth,  s 

reflexes,  11,  12 

selection,  12 

structure,  5 
Angell,  73.  74,  75 
Anger,  49,  53,  80 
Angruish,  83 
Apperception,  18,  21 
Autoeroticism,  96 
Autonomic  apparatus,  i,  11,  28 
component,  19,  72 
conditioning  of,  31,  56 
diagram,  10 
ganglia,  12 
muscles  of,  8 
Awareness,  27,  91,  131,  132,  139 


Bassett,  15 


Bechterew,  57,  58 
Behavior,  as  a  resultant,  5 
Bickel,  39 
Bidder,  37 
Bleuler,  108 

Blood  contents  and  fear,  50 
Bogen's  child,  39 
Boldireff,  36,  44 
Brown-Darwin  case,  42 

Cannon,  8,  11,  33,  34,  35,  36,  40,  41,  42, 

44,  SO,  SI,  52,  53,  SS,  112 
Carlson,  34 
Cases — disgust,  43 

moods,  41 

nausea,  fear,  45 

sorrow,  43 
Cerebellum,  6 
Cerebrum,  6 
Compensation,  98,  126 
Conditioning,  affective  cravings,  64 

autonomic  reactions,  63,  139 

method,  59 

reflexes,  57 
Conflict,  II,  93,  102,  108 
Consciousness,  23,  27 

mechanism  of,  131,  132,  139,  140, 
141 
Counter-stimulation,  55 
Crile,  53,  54,  55,  131 

Darwin,  12,  36,  41,  67 

DeBoer,  20 

Delusion,  no,  141 

Dementia,  functional,  97 

Desire,  peripheral  origin  of,  25,  56 

to  urinate,  25 
Discrimination,  136 
Disgust,  32,  83 
Dissociation,  108,  109 
Dream,  mechanism  of,  no 
Dusser  de  Barenne,  20 

Ego,  development  of,  97 
Emotions,  73 

peripheral  origin  of,  31,  36 


154 


INDEX 


155 


Emotions,  James*  theory  of,  36 
Energy,    conservation    and    expendi- 
ture, I,  7 
Envy,  85 
Extroversion,  113 

Fear,  8,  31,  45,  79.  98 
and  adrenin,  50 
coagulation  time  of  blood,  52 
dilatation  of  bronchioles,  53 
distribution  of  blood,  52 
fatigueabiUty  of  muscle,  52 
glycosuria,  51 
visceral  volumes,  52 
and  stimuli,  53 
auditory,  46 
olfactory,  49 
visual,  48 
destructive,  50 
Fetiches,  66 
Fixation,  92,  105 
Franz,  2 
Frazer,  127 
Freud,  105,  109,  no 

Gaskell,  8,  14 
Grey,  50 
Goltz,  33 

Habit  formation,  72 

Hallucinations,    mechanism   of,    no, 

141 
Haggerty,  124 
Herrick,  8 
Higier,  4,  5,  8,  n 
Holt,  78 
Homburg,  37 
Homburg's  boy,  39 
Humor,  105 
Hunger,  33,  34,  36,  44,  55,  72 

Images,  64,  66,  127 
Imitation,  22,  72,  125,  133 
Impotence,  105 
Inferiority,  126 
Instincts,  73 
Introversion,  112 
Intuition,  23 
Isrealsohn,  61 
Itching,  55,  72 


James,  31.  36,  77>,  75 

theory  of  the  emotions,  36 
Jealousy,  85 
Jelliffe,  8,  120 
Joy,  83 
Judd,  75 
Jung,  113 

Kinesthesis,  18 

Ladd,  73 

Lange,  36 

Langelaan,  17,  19,  20,  27 

Langfeld,  13 

Langley,  8 

Latchley,  57 

Laughter,  105 

Learning  methods, 
trial  and  error,  72 
imitation,  22,  ^2,  125,  133 

Love,  84,  120 

MacDougall,  76,  ^^ 
Macleod,  51 
Macfarland,  5 
Memory,  130 
Mikitin,  65 
Mind,  141 

Misrepresentation,  141 
Misinterpretation,  141 
Mosso,  25 

Natural  selection, 

mechanism  of,  64 
Nervous  system, 

autonomic,  8 

cerebrospinal,  i 

projicient,  i,  14 

sympathetic,  8 

vegetative,  8 
Netschaier,  50,  131 
Neuroses,  mechanism  of  functional, 

91 
Newton,  laws  of  motion, 
first  law,  147 
second  law,  148 
third  law,  148 

Oechsler,  39 
Opposition  of  forces,  6 

of  muscles,  6 

of  autonomic  centers,  11 


156 


INDEX 


Parmelee,  74,  75 
Pawlow,  33,  27,  57 
Pellacani,  25 
Personality, 

diagram  of  functions,  29 
formulation  of  wishes,  140 
Pillsbury,  74,  75 
Pleasure-pain  principle,  72 
Postural  contraction,  18 
grip,  25 
imitation,  30 

tensions,  44,  91,  92,  119,  140 
continuity  of,  23,  24,  27 
spasticity  of,  26,  28 
variations  of,  86 
Postural  tonus, 
of  arteries,  26 
bladder,  25 
heart,  26 
sexual  organs,  28 
rectum,  28 
stomach,  26 
striped  muscle,  17 
viscera,  25 
Postural  unfatiguability,  26 
Projicient  apparatus,  i 
Protopopoff,  61 
Psychotherapy,  127 
Purpose,  78 

Reactions, 

positive  and  negative,  12 
Reality,  sense  of,  no,  127 
Recall,  22,  130 
Receptors, 

dual  nature  of,  6 

distance,  6 

extero-,  6 

proprio-,  6,  17 
Reciprocal  innervation,  19,  21 
Reenforcement,  107 
Refinement,  137 
Reflexes, 

allied,  93 

antagonistic,  93 
Repression,  91,  92,  loi,  103,  140 
Resultant,  11,  68,  85,  104,  142 
Rinjberk,  20 


Sasaki,  39 
Schmidt,  37 
Schiff,  37 
Self-control,  138 
Self-neutralization,  78 
Sexual  cravings,  55 
Sexual  selection,  67 
Shame,  82 

Sherrington,  6,  11,  17,  18,  19,  20,  23, 
24,  25,  26,  27,  30,  31,  66,  93,  107 
Social  esteem,  94 
Sorrow,  83 
Spastic  viscera,  40 
Stimuli, 

compound,  71 

negative,  6,  n 

positive,  6,  II 
Sublimation,  121 
Summation,  loi,  107 
Suppression,  140 

Tait,  129 
Tendencies, 

acquisitive,  84,  85 

avertive,  84,  85 
Theory  of  aflfective-autonomic  func- 
tions, I,  77,  78 
Thought,  23,  78 

mechanism  of,  136,  141 
Threshold  of  response, 

variations  of,  73 
Transference,  94 

Understanding,  133 

Watson,  24,  57,  77,  79 
Walker,  61 

Wertheimer,  49,  50,  131 
White,  8,  113 
Will,  97.  98 
Wish,  78,  141 

negative,  107 

positive,  107 

repressed,  109 

repressing,  109 

suppressed,  140 


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